Global Innovation Index: Bangladesh remains at 106th, lags behind Ghana, Kenya

Infographics: TBS

Bangladesh's innovation performance remains stagnant, with the country ranked 106th out of 139 economies in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2025. 

The position, unchanged from last year, leaves Bangladesh trailing behind several African peers, including Ghana (101st), Kenya (102nd), and Nigeria (105th). 

This lack of progress is not new. After a brief surge in 2022, when Bangladesh climbed 14 spots to 102nd, it quickly slipped back — falling to 105th in 2023 and 106th in 2024. Prior to that, it had spent four consecutive years stuck at 116th.

The fleeting gains only underscore the country's failure to build a sustainable foundation for innovation.

The 18th edition of the index, which ranks economies based on their innovation performance, was released on 16 September by the World Intellectual Property Organisation, a specialised agency of the United Nations.

Switzerland, with a score of 66 out of 100, ranks first in the GII for the 15th consecutive year, while Sweden and the United States maintain 2nd and 3rd positions, respectively. 

South Korea (4th) moves further into the top five, followed by Singapore (5th). It is followed by the United Kingdom, Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark and China, which breaks into the top 10 for the first time.

Infographics: TBS

Meanwhile, Niger, Angola, and Congo were ranked at the bottom of the index.

With a score of 21, Bangladesh ranked 19th among the 37 lower-middle-income group economies and 8th among the 10 economies in central and southern Asia.

In central and southern Asia, India continues to lead, moving one place forward to 38th position in GII 2025 from the previous year.

In South Asia, the world's most populous country was followed by Sri Lanka at 93rd, and Pakistan at 99th. 

Bangladesh is only ahead of Nepal in South Asia, as the latter is placed at 107th.

World Intellectual Property Organisation Director General Daren Tang commented, "While we see encouraging signs of recovery in areas such as innovation uptake and impact, the global innovation engine is not firing on all cylinders.

"Slower growth in R&D investments and declining VC activity reminds us that innovation requires sustained upstream and financial commitment."

The index comprises approximately 80 indicators, grouped into innovation inputs and outputs. The GII aims to capture the multidimensional facets of innovation.

The innovation input sub-index gauges elements of the economy that enable and facilitate innovative activities and is grouped into five pillars: institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication, and business sophistication.

The innovation output sub-index captures the results of innovative activities via two pillars: knowledge and technology outputs, and creative outputs.

Bangladesh's performance on index

The 2025 report stated that "Bangladesh produces more innovation outputs relative to its level of innovation investments."

The country ranked 115th in innovation inputs, slipping one place from last year, while its innovation outputs fell to 95th, down from 92nd.

Among the seven pillars, Bangladesh ranked the highest at 86th in creative outputs, followed by 90th in infrastructure, 96th in market sophistication, and 99th in knowledge and technology outputs.

Bangladesh ranked the lowest in human capital and research (133rd), business sophistication (129th) and institutions (109th).

Worse still, Bangladesh performed below the lower-middle-income group average in critical pillars: institutions, human capital and research, business sophistication, and knowledge and technology outputs.

Under the sub-pillars of the seven pillars, the report highlighted ICT services imports, expenditure on education, university-industry R&D collaboration, pupil-teacher ratio in secondary education, and graduates in science and engineering as the major weaknesses of the country.