Russia was ranked 12th in the Bloomberg rating of innovative economies released this week, up two places from last year.
South Korea topped the Bloomberg Innovation Index for the third year running, followed by Germany, Sweden, Japan and Switzerland. Rounding out the top 10 were Singapore, Finland, the U.S., Denmark and France, with Israel one spot ahead of Russia in 11th place.
The rating is compiled on the basis of the country’s showings in areas such as research and development intensity, high-tech density, researcher concentration and patent activity.
Russia’s best showing in the individual areas assessed was in tertiary efficiency – which measures the level of higher education of the population and the concentration of science and engineering graduates – in which it took third place.
The Russian government has stepped up its campaign to foster innovation in the economy in recent years. Photo: Sk.ru.
It was eighth in terms of high-tech density: the number of public high-tech companies as a percentage of domestically publically listed companies, and as a share of the world’s total public high-tech companies.
Russia moved up the ranking two places this year from no. 14 last year. The year before that, it was ranked 18th.
“An appearance anywhere in the top-50 list should give an economy something to cheer about, since it could mean a boost to longer-run growth,” Bloomberg said in a report accompanying the ranking.
"If you're a really innovative economy, everything else equal, you're going to tend to have higher productivity growth, and that goes hand-in-hand with rising living standards over time," the news agency quoted Jay Bryson, global economist at Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, North Carolina as saying. "The pie expands for everyone."
The Russian government stepped up its attempts to foster innovation in the country and diversify the economy away from its dependence on energy exports with the creation of the Skolkovo Innovation Centre in 2010. Run by the Skolkovo Foundation, the center aims to encourage venture capitalism and facilitate the development of startups.