Iran has been ranked 65th in the Global Innovation Index 2018, rising 10 positions from last year.
Innovation Efficiency Ratio is Iran's main strength, in which the country is ranked 11th worldwide.
Iran has also garnered top ranks this year in terms of productivity growth and science and engineering graduates.
The country is highly efficient in translating its innovation inputs into outputs, reads the Iran-specific report published by World Intellectual Property Organization, noting that this is demonstrated by the Innovation Efficiency Ratio that shows a positive trend, jumping from 51st position in 2016 to 11th this year.
Iran has a much better performance in innovation outputs than in inputs.
“Over the past three years, it has significantly improved its innovation outputs and reached 46th position this year, up from 57th position in 2017 and 72nd in 2016,” the report said.
Innovation inputs also improved this year, though they are still at the 93rd spot, it added.
WIPO says Iran's Efficiency Ratio is positively influenced by a much higher ranking in innovation outputs (46th) compared to inputs (93rd).
GII, published annually by Cornell University, INSEAD and WIPO, ranks 126 economies based on 80 indicators, ranging from intellectual property filing rates to mobile-application creation, education spending and scientific and technical publications. It is aimed at helping global decision-makers better understand how to stimulate the innovative activity that drives economic and human development.
As per the ranking, Iran is second among the nine countries in Central and Southern Asia and 16th among 34 upper-middle-income countries.
Compared to other countries in the Central and Southern Asia region, the Islamic Republic of Iran performs above average in four out of the seven GII areas: human capital & research, infrastructure, knowledge & technology outputs and creative outputs.
On the innovation output side, most of Iran's strengths are exhibited in knowledge & technology outputs (41st), where two of its main elements–knowledge creation (35th) and knowledge impact (12th)–are marked as strengths. At the indicator level, strengths are shown in "patents by origin" (14th), "scientific and technical publications" (33rd), "productivity growth" (1st), and "high- and medium-high-tech manufactures" (32nd).
In creative outputs (59th), Iran demonstrates strength in the area of "intangible assets" (26th) as well as in indicators "trademarks by origin" (7th) and "industrial designs by origin" (12th).
On the innovation input side, Iran has been ranked 45th in "human capital & research", where the country demonstrates strong performance in the area of "tertiary education" (3rd), as well as in indicators "tertiary enrolment" (24th) and "graduates in science and engineering" (3rd).
The Islamic Republic also shows strengths in "infrastructure" (87th), "general infrastructure" (39th) and in "gross capital formation" (8th). In "market sophistication" (106th), Iran has particular strength in "domestic market scale" (18th).
> Weaknesses
The WIPO report noted that the most relative weaknesses of Iran are in the input side of GII.
Several of them are found in "market sophistication" (106th), where it performs relatively weakly in the area of investment (125th) as well as in "ease of protecting minority investors" (123rd), "applied tariff rate" (125th) and "intensity of local competition" (116th), it said.
Other weak areas include "business sophistication" (108th), "knowledge absorption" (122nd) and "joint venture–strategic alliance deals" (112th) and "patent families filed in two or more offices" (110th)”.
Iran's weaknesses on the innovation input side are in institutions (110th), in indicators "regulatory quality" (124th) and "ease of resolving insolvency" (125th). "Global R&D companies" expenditures" (40th) is the only relative weakness in "human capital & research" (45th).
Knowledge diffusion (123rd) is also highlighted as a weakness in "knowledge & technology outputs" (41st).
Indicators "printing & other media" (93rd) and "mobile app creation" (95th) are the only two weaknesses found in "creative outputs" (59th).
