Productivity Puzzles

Why does the UK do so well on the Global Innovation Index?

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Episode notes

How do we measure innovation and compare it across countries? And how can it be that the UK is doing so well as an innovation nation, while we seem to be underperforming on productivity?

This episode of Productivity Puzzles takes a deep dive into the latest 2023 Global Innovation Index (GII) and its implications for the UK's productivity. The UK ranks fourth on the Global Innovation Index, showcasing strengths in R&D, scientific output, and intangible asset intensity. But why does that not translate into productivity gains?

Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:

• Sacha Vincent-Wunsch, Head of Section, Economics and Statistics Division, and co-editor of The Global Innovation Index (GII) at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

• Anna Valero, Deputy Director of Programme on Innovation and Diffusion (POID) and Distinguished Policy Fellow, Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics.

For more information on the topic:

• WIPO, The Global Innovation Index 2023: Innovation in the face of uncertainty, September 2023.
• WIPO, United Kingdom ranking in the Global Innovation Index 2023, September 2023.
• WIPO, Science and Technology Cluster Ranking, September 2023.
• WIPO, Global Innovation Index 2022. What is the future of innovation-driven growth?, September 2022.
• Richard Jones (2022), Science and innovation policy for hard times: an overview of the UK’s Research and Development landscape, Productivity Insights Paper No. 014, The Productivity Institute.
• Paul Nightingale and James W. Phillips (2023), Is the UK a world leader in science?, Substack.
• The Economy 2023 Inquiry, Learning to grow: How to situate a skills strategy in an economic strategy, October 2023 by Rui Costa, Zhaolu Liu, Sandra McNally, Louise Murphy, Christopher Pissarides, Bertha Rohenkohl, Anna Valero and Guglielmo Ventura.
• The Economy 2023 Inquiry, Beyond Boosterism: Realigning the policy ecosystem to unleash private investment for sustainable growth  22 June 2023 by Paul Brandily, Mimosa Distefano, Krishan Shah, Gregory Thwaites, and Anna Valero.
• The Economy 2023 Inquiry, Growing clean: Identifying and investing in sustainable growth opportunities across the UK 23 May 2022 by Brendan Curran, Ralf Martin, Sabrina Muller, Viet Nguyen-Tien, Juliana Oliveira-Cunha, Esin Serin, Arjun Shah, Anna Valero, and Dennis Verhoeven.
• The Economy 2023 Inquiry, Enduring strengths: Analysing the UK’s current and potential economic strengths, and what they mean for its economic strategy, at the start of the decisive decade April 2022 by Josh De Lyon, Ralf Martin, Juliana Oliveira-Cunha, Arjun Shah, Krishan Shah, Gregory Thwaites & Anna Valero.

About Productivity Puzzles:

Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, eight Regional Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.