According to the Global Innovation Index 2021 report released by the United Nations’ World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Malaysia has slipped to 36th place in the global ranking, compared to 33rd place last year.
Malaysia ranks third after China and Bulgaria among 34 upper middle-income economies, and 8th out of 17 economies in Southeast Asia, East Asia and Oceania.
Among the 7 balanced pillars of the GII, Malaysia performs best in market maturity and worst in infrastructure.
Malaysia ranks 30 in market maturity, 31 in knowledge and technology output, 37 in creative output, 39 in business maturity, 39 in human resources and research, 41 in institutions and 51 in infrastructure. in terms of Malaysia’s strengths, Malaysia ranks first in the breakdown of high-tech exports as a percentage of total trade (%).
GII 2021 RANKING OVERALL AND BY PILLAR (MALAYSIA)
| OVERALL GII | INSTITUTIONS | HUMAN CAPITAL AND RESERCH | INFRASTRUCTURE | MARKET SOPHISTICATION | BUSINESS SOPHISTICATION | KNOWLEDGE AND TECHNOLOGY OUTPUTS | CREATIVE OUTPUTS |
| 36 | 41 | 39 | 51 | 30 | 39 | 31 | 37 |