In 2024 Canada ranked 14th in the Global Innovation Index (GII), up from its 18th rank in 2017. Canada has always ranked higher in terms of Inputs supporting innovation activates but lower in terms of Outputs of innovation activities.

The GII published as an annual indicator of progress for cutting-edge intellectual property (IP) issues. The GII ranks the world’s leading economies according to their innovation capacity. The process also identifies science and research clusters which provide the muscle for innovation.

The GII is developed and maintained by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) of the United Nations. The WIPO has 193 member states and 250 non-government organizations (NGOs) and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) with observer status.

The GII has a set of indicators grouped into three broad categories: (1) science and innovation investment as a measure of the supply of resources to support innovation, (2) technology adoption as a measure of effective demand for the innovation and (3) socioeconomic impact as measure of the fruits of the technological progress. Note: whereas the causal relationship between an investment and its output can generally be made, the outputs may contribute to the broader state of societal welfare. Measuring this latter effect is not direct. Some will infer an effect by comparing the before and after state of the socio-economy. This is what is meant by the fruits of the innovation.

Each of the broad categories has a number of measurable indicators that provide short-run (latest year over last available year) and longer-run indicator (latest year compared to the average over the base period).

The summary of Canada’s relative performance is presented in Table 1 below.

Source: https://www.wipo.int/web-publications/global-innovation-index-2024/en/gii-2024-results.html. Details for the compilation of data and the methodology for calculating the GII are here.

A detailed discussion of the data collection process and details of the GII methodology are beyond the scope of this post.

Key Findings of the 2024 report for Canada:

1. Canada produces less innovation outputs relative to its level of innovation investments.
2. Canada supports three innovation clusters that rank amongst the top hundred science and technology clusters in the world. These clusters are centered around Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
3. Innovation outcomes can be “lumpy”. Canada has a significant innovation community but one that can be subject to large discrete annual movements. Canada’s ranking is best looked at as a medium term measure.