International Scorecard

2023 International Innovation Scorecard

The 2023 International Innovation Scorecard is our most ambitious effort yet. This edition measures 40 indicators across 17 categories, including tax friendliness, environmental quality, trade policy, broadband access, and cybersecurity. The 2023 edition also expanded to include nine additional countries, assessing a total of 70 nations spanning the globe, including all members of the EU and G20.

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Overview

In choosing the 17 categories and 40 indicators we attempted to identify the policies and practices needed to support the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators and bring groundbreaking new technologies to life.

Our 2023 edition, adds four new indicators to capture how countries realize the promise of vital and exciting emerging technologies: telemedicine, cybersecurity, digital assets, and artificial intelligence.

After crunching the numbers, we saw exciting results: a record 24 countries and the European Union as an entity received our highest honor – a designation as “Innovation Champion.” We congratulate Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union on their success in creating vibrant innovation ecosystems.

Each of the 70 countries in this year’s Scorecard has a unique story to tell. But across the board, they are introducing technological innovations that improve citizens’ lives and build bridges between our fast-paced, interconnected societies.

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2023 Innovation Champions

Scheduled events

Australia

Finland

Netherlands

Australia

Germany

Norway

Austria

Iceland

Singapore

Belgium

Ireland

Spain

Canada

Israel

Sweden

Denmark

Japan

Switzerland

Estonia

Lithuania

United Kingdom

European Union (EU)

Luxembourg

United States

Finland

The Netherlands

Australia	Germany	Norway
Austria	Iceland	Singapore
Belgium	Ireland	Spain
Canada	Israel	Sweden
Denmark	Japan	Switzerland
Estonia	Lithuania	United Kingdom
European Union (EU)	Luxembourg	United States
Finland	The Netherlands
France	New Zealand

Methodology

The International Innovation Scorecard considers a range of indicators to determine the final roster of countries. In the 2023 International Innovation Scorecard, CTA evaluates countries for which:·

Publicly available, verifiable and independent third-party data exists;
Comparable data across nations exists;
And governments can influence public policy.

In its latest edition, CTA’s International Innovation Scorecard has expanded to evaluate 70 countries, including the entire G-20, and all 27 members of the European Union. It includes countries that have trade agreements with the United States, and many emerging markets driving new tech innovations in fields ranging from health to finance and transportation.

Categories

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence evaluates the extent to which a country promotes the development of AI for non-strictly governmental applications. Metric A assesses whether a country has a stated national strategy to guide the commercial development of artificial intelligence. Metric B assesses whether the country holds public consultations of stakeholders and experts that allow non-government actors, such as representatives of the research community, businesses, journalists and members of the public, to express their views or provide expert advice that inform policy-making processes. A country earns an A’ if it both has a national AI strategy and holds public consultations, a ‘B’ if it has an AI strategy but does not hold fully public consultations, a ‘C’ if it has no AI strategy but does hold fully public consultations, and an ’F’ if it has neither an AI strategy nor fully public consultations.

Broadband

Broadband measures a country’s number of mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (Metric A, using International Telecommunications Union data indicator i911w), number of fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (Metric B, using International Telecommunications Data indicator i992b) and the mean download speeds of its internet connections (Metric C, using cable.co.uk’s Worldwide broadband speed league). The three metrics are each weighted equally, and the combined scores are normalized.

Drones & Advanced Air Mobility

Drones & Advanced Air Mobility evaluates laws, regulations and policymaking activities on the use of drones, and advanced air mobility — often referred to as urban air mobility or air taxis. Metric A assesses whether a country has any government-led working groups or committees of stakeholders focused on urban/advanced air mobility. Metric B assesses whether a country has as national or regional strategy for urban air mobility/advanced air mobility. Metric C assesses whether a country has permanent national rules (as opposed to temporary or interim rules) for Drones and Advanced Air Mobility that support innovation and economic growth, meaning, that allow businesses to use drones to deliver items, and air taxis to transport people. Metric D assesses whether a country has permanent national rules supporting recreational and hobbyist drone operators, meaning, it allows ordinary people to fly drones without obtaining licenses that are difficult to get. Metric E assesses whether a country has a consistent drone policy framework at different levels of government (municipal, state/regional, national).

Diversity

Diversity measures the concentration of various ethnic groups within a country and the gender gap in its workforce. Metric A assesses the country’s ethnic diversity based on immigration data, using an adaptation of the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, a method most commonly used to measure corporate concentration within a given industry, relying on the CIA World Factbook, and World Atlas (France) Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (Italy), Britannica (Malta), and minorityrights.org (Rwanda). Metric B assesses the share of immigrants as a percentage of a country’s population, using the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, International Migrant Stock 2020. Metric C assesses the ratio of female-to-male participation in the country’s labor force among people ages 25-54, drawing on the World Economic Forum: Global Gender Gap Report, 2022. The scores in each metric are normalized, and then averaged, producing a letter grade.

Entrepreneurial Activity

Entrepreneurial Activity evaluates how easy it is to start a new business in a country. Metric A assesses the country’s annual rate of new business creation per 1,000 people aged 15-64, based on the World Bank Entrepreneurship Database (2020). Metric B assesses the ease of starting a business, according to the World Bank’s “Doing Business: Ease of Starting a Business” 2020 Corrected Data. These measures are each normalized, then averaged, combined, normalized again, and converted to letter grades.

Human Capital

Human Capital evaluates a country’s population on the basis of educational attainment, availability of high-skilled workers, and the share of STEM-related advanced degrees. Metric A assesses the percentage of a country’s population possessing a tertiary degree based on the INSEAD Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2021. Metric B assesses the availability of scientists and engineers, based on an average score of a survey of business leaders, also using the INSEAD Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2021. Metric C assesses the percentage of overall degrees institutions of higher learning confer in STEM-related disciplines, using the WIPO Global Innovation Index. Each of these three metrics is normalized, and the scores are then combined into a composite, yielding a letter grade.

Freedom

Freedom evaluates the degree to which a country grants its citizens certain civil and political liberties. The grades are derived by equally weighting select components of CATO Institute’s Human Freedom Index (to include freedom of movement; religious freedom; the freedoms of association, assembly and civil society; freedom of expression and information; and freedom of relationships), and scores from Freedom House’s Freedom in the World 2022. The combined scores are then normalized.

Environment

Environment evaluates the quality of a country’s air and drinking water. Metric A considers air quality, measuring concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5, in μg/m3) using World Health Organization data (Source 1). Countries earn an ‘A’ for meeting or falling below the WHO Air Quality Guideline, an annual mean of PM2.5 of 10μg/m3, a ‘B’ for 10-15μg/m3, ‘C’ for 15-25μg/m3, ‘D’ for 25-35μg/m3, and ‘F’ for over 35μg/m3 or data not available.

Global Tech Trade

Tech Trade considers four factors: Metric A, based on a country’s participation in the 1997 Information Technology Agreement (ITA), according to the World Trade Organization information; Metric B, a country’s participation in the 2015 expansion of the ITA, based on the World Trade Organization Declaration on the Expansion of Trade in Information Technology Products; Metrics C and D, the share of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as a percentage of a country’s total exports (Metric C) and as a percentage of total imports (Metric D), both derived from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTADSTAT). Metrics C and D are normalized, and then all four measures are averaged and normalized again, producing letter grades.

Resilience & Digital Transparency

Resilience evaluates the extent to which a country’s government provides services on the internet, and how well its business environment is prepared to withstand and recover from disruptive events. The category encompasses a Resilience Score (Metric A, based on the FM Global Resilience Index) and an E-Government Development Score (Metric B, from the UN E-Government Knowledgebase. The combined score is normalized. Metric B measures drinking water by percentage of the population using improved drinking water sources, using the WHO. Countries earn an ‘A’ for 100% of the population using improved drinking-water sources, a ‘B’ for 91-99%, a ‘C’ for 76-90%, a ‘D’ for 50-75%, and an ‘F’ for less than 50% or data not available.

R&D Investment

R&D Investment measures a country’s gross expenditure on research and development, as a percentage of its GDP, using data from the WIPO 2021 Global Innovation Index. The score is normalized, and converted to a letter grade. For both Metrics A and B, the letter grades are converted to numeric scores, with ‘A’ equaling 4 points, ‘B’ equaling 3 points, ‘C’ equaling 2 points, ‘D’ equaling 1 points, and ‘F’ equaling 0 points. The resulting scores are averaged into a composite score for the category, and converted back into letter grades according to the following table:A+ (3.754-4.000)A (3.503-3.753)A- (3.252-3.502)B+ (3.001-3.251)B (2.750 -3.000)B- (2.405-2.749)C+ (2.061-2.404)C(1.716 -2.0 6 0)C- (1.372-1.715)D+ (1.027-1.371)D(0.682-1.026)D(0.338-0.681)F (0.000-0.337)

Self-Driving Vehicles

Self-Driving Vehicles evaluates the extent to which a country permits the testing and operation of self-driving vehicles on its public roads. Metric A assesses whether a country allows for testing or operation of self-driving vehicles (SDVs). Metric B assesses whether a country has taken any action to encourage the development of SDVs, and if so, whether the rule or statute stipulates the use of a specific technology, or is open to all technologies. A country earns an ‘A’ if it allows testing or operation of SDVs and has taken technology-neutral action to encourage their development. A country earns a ‘B’ if it allows testing or operation of SDVs, but any action it has taken to encourage their development is specific to certain technologies. A country earns a ‘C’ if it allows neither testing nor operation of SDVs.

Tax Friendliness

Tax Friendliness evaluates the competitiveness of a country’s tax system, based on its top federal corporate tax rate, and its top individual marginal tax rate. Metric A is based on KPMG Corporate Tax Rates 2011-2021. Metric B is based on KPMG Individual Income Tax Rates 2011-2021 and PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries (Rwanda). The scores in each metric are normalized, combined into a composite, and converted to a letter grade.

Telehealth/Telemedicine

Telehealth evaluates the extent to which a country permits Telemedicine for its population. If a country allows for doctors’ visits and at least some treatments and prescriptions to be performed via Telemedicine (to include SMS or messaging, and video calls), it earns an ‘A’. If a country also allows for doctors’ visits and/or treatments by Telemedicine to covered by either private insurance providers or a national healthcare system, it earns an ‘A+’.

Unicorns

Unicorns considers the number of domestic companies that have achieved an actual or implied valuation of at least US $1 billion, per 10 million people in population, drawing on data from Pitchbook, CBInsights, and Crunchbase.

Explore the 2023 Results

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