Russia ranked world's 12th most innovative economy

Published time: 20 Jan, 2016 10:07Edited time: 20 Jan, 2016 10:17

A view of Moscow's Kremlin, Ministry of Foreign affairs and Moscow City business district. © Anton Golubev

In terms of innovation Russia is in the top 15 of global economies, outpacing Austria, Norway, Belgium, the UK and China, according to the 2016 Bloomberg Innovation Index.

The index scored economies using factors including research and development spending and concentration of high-tech public companies.

Russia took the leading position in terms of researcher concentration.

In the world of ideas, South Korea is king. These are the world's most innovative economies https://t.co/8F0elZkiOB pic.twitter.com/p0c9slImaM
— Bloomberg Business (@business) January 19, 2016

According to the Index, South Korea is the world’s most innovative economy. It is followed by Germany, Sweden, Japan and Switzerland.

South Korea is "squeezed between low-wage China on the one hand and more technologically advanced Japan on the other, so there's this sense of anxiety, or a certain degree of urgency, about maintaining this performance," said Marcus Noland, director of studies at the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Six of the top 10 economies are in Europe, and three in Asia.

"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," said Jay Bryson, global economist at Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, North Carolina. "The pie expands for everyone."