Thailand climbs to 41st place in Global Innovation Index

A woman uses a claw machine to select a durian she likes at the Farm Expo 2024 in Bangkok, the first indoor agricultural event featuring large-to-small-scale farm machinery, agricultural technology, and innovation showcases, last month. (Photo: Somchai Poomlard)
A person uses a spear device to pick a citrus she likes at the Land Expo 2024 in Bangkok, the primary domestic agrarian event featuring large-to-small-scale farm machinery, agrarian technology, and innovation showcases, last month. ( Photo: Somchai Poomlard )

Thailand was ranked 41 among 133 economies featured in the Global Innovation Index ( GII ) 2024, its highest place in a decade, the National Innovation Agency ( NIA ) has said.

The country climbed from 43rd place in last year’s ranking while maintaining third place among the Asean countries, after Singapore ( 4th ) and Malaysia ( 33rd ), said the NIA.

World economies are ranked according to their innovation potentials using roughly 80 indicators, which are divided into innovation inputs and outputs, according to the GII, released by the World Intellectual Property Organization ( WIPO ).

Switzerland was the first state in the major 10, followed by Sweden, the United States, Singapore, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark.

Nevertheless, Thailand’s technology capacity has improved greatly in particular input and output sub-indexes, which indicates the region has been on the right trail regarding innovation promotion, said Krithpaka Boonfueng, executive director of the NIA.

Thailand’s outstanding innovation indicators lie in the business system category, especially gross domestic expenditure on research and development ( GERD), which is total expenditure on R&amp, D, she said.

Thailand will need to work harder to increase its exports of Internet services and its costs on schooling as a share of GDP, she said.

Ms. Krithpaka noted that there are still many areas that require more government funding, especially when deciding which steps the nation should take to improve its development potential and how state organizations can assist its private-sector partners.

According to her recommendation, researchers from the public sector should collaborate with the private business to better understand the technology industry.

She continued,” The Ministry of Commerce will encourage cooperation between the public and private businesses.”