The Global Innovation Index 2012 published by INSEAD, the leading international business school, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) jointly ranks 141 countries/economies on the basis of their innovation capabilities and results.

The study shows that the dynamics of innovation continue to be affected by the emergence of new successful innovators, as seen by the range of countries across continents in the top twenty GII ranking, as well as the good performances of emerging countries such as Latvia, Malaysia, China, Montenegro, Serbia, Republic of Moldova, Jordan, Ukraine, India, Mongolia, Armenia, Georgia, Namibia, Viet Nam, Swaziland, Paraguay, Ghana, Senegal; and low-income countries Kenya and Zimbabwe.

Switzerland tops the list this year while India ranks 64 in the overall ranking of countries.

Top 10 Leaders in the Global Innovation Index are: Switzerland, Sweden, Singapore, Finland, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Denmark, Hong Kong (China), Ireland and United States of America.

The report notes a need for the BRIC countries (Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, and China) to invest further in their innovation capabilities to live up to their expected potential. China's performance on the key knowledge and technology outputs pillar is outpaced only by Switzerland, Sweden, Singapore, and Finland. However, the report notes that both China and India have weaknesses in their innovation infrastructure and environment. The report also notes that Brazil has suffered the largest drop among the BRICs.

The report being one of the key indicators of innovation at the country level shows which countries are best in transforming given innovation inputs into innovation outputs. Countries, which are strong in producing innovation outputs despite a weaker innovation environment and innovation inputs, are poised to rank high in this "efficiency" index. In the Global Innovation Efficiency Index, China and India lead the top 10 league of countries. This shows that in spite facing challenges in the input side and being ranked 64 overall, India is well poised to adapt innovation in a big way, given the input side measures are reviewed and improved considerably.

Commenting on innovation in emerging economies like India, Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII said, "Every country can aspire to be an innovation-driven economy. The more resource-constrained an economy is, the more prone to innovation it actually can be. Importantly, innovation is about acts which improve everyday lives and a journey towards faster-sustainable-inclusive-growth."