South Korea, Singapore lead world in innovation; US drops out of top 10

SGWASHINGTON (BLOOMBERG) - South Korea returned to first place in the latest Bloomberg Innovation Index, while the US dropped out of a top 10 that features a cluster of European countries.

South Korea regained the crown from Germany, which dropped to fourth place. The Asian nation has now topped the index for seven of the nine years that it has been published.

Singapore and Switzerland each moved up one spot to rank second and third.

The Bloomberg index analyses dozens of criteria using seven equally weighted metrics, including research and development (R&D) spending, manufacturing capability and concentration of high-tech public companies.

The 2021 rankings reflect a world where the fight against Covid-19 has brought innovation to the fore - from government efforts to contain the pandemic to the digital infrastructure that has allowed economies to work through it, and the race to develop vaccines that can end it.

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