The country loses positions on indicators such as value-added production, concentration of high-tech companies, post-secondary education and patents, according to the Bloomberg Innovation Index
Bulgaria is among the top 50 most innovative countries in the world, ranked by Bloomberg. The country ranks 41st in the sixth edition of the Bloomberg Innovation Index after it failed to enter the top fifty in 2017 and it was 42nd out of 84 in the ranking year earlier.
The index is compiled on the basis of seven criteria with equal weight – R & D intensity, value-added production, productivity, concentration of high-tech companies, post-secondary education, researchers concentration, and patents. In its preparation, the agency examines over 200 economies, each of which is estimated on a scale of 1 to 100, based on its performance on the seven indicators.
Presentation of Bulgaria
Although it again reaches the top 50 – with a final result of 51.54, in most of the indicators, Bulgaria’s performance is deteriorating compared to the 2016 data, the most significant being the “value-added” (which is measured by Bloomberg as a percentage of GDP and purchasing power parity) – the country is now 34th out of 50 countries, while two years ago it was at the top of the table – 25th out of 84 countries .
Deterioration of the number of positions compared to the two years ago was achieved with the indicators “concentration of high-tech companies” (39th place), “lower secondary education” (38th place) and “patents” (48th place). However, the country climbed to 37th on the criterion measuring the intensity of development spending after it was 46th in 2016. Two-point improvement also has the “performance” criteria (41st place) and “researcher concentration” (37th place).
THE CLASSIFICATION OF BULGARIA BY THE INDIVIDUAL INDICATORS
2018 2016
Intensity of R & D 37 46
Value Added Production 34 25
Productivity 41 43
Concentration of high – tech companies 39 35
Upper secondary education 38 32
Concentration of researchers 37 39
Patents 48 43
The global leaders
Leading innovation leader for the fifth consecutive year remains South Korea, whose final result in 2108 is 89.28. Since the turn of the century, Samsung Electronics has received more patents in the US than any other company except IBM, according to Bloomberg.
The second place remains for Sweden, and the top three is complemented by Singapore, which climbs three positions compared to 2017 thanks to its strong performance in the category for post-secondary education. For the first time, the United States failed to enter in the top 10, the agency said.
Ranking 2018 Ranking 2017 Country Total result
1 1 South Korea 89.28
2 2 Sweden 84.7
3 6 Singapore 83.05
4 3 Germany 82.53
5 4 Switzerland 82.34
6 7 Japan 81.91
7 5 Finland 81.46
8 8 Denmark 81.28
9 11 France 80.75
10 10 Israel 80.64
11 9 USA 80.46
12 12 Austria 79.12
13 16 Ireland 77.87
14 13 Belgium 77.12
15 14 Norway 76.76
16 15 Holland 75.09
17 17 England 74.54
18 18 Australia 74.35
19 21 China 73.36
20 24 Italy 68.88
21 22 Poland 68.74
22 20 Canada 67.98
23 19 New Zealand 67.4
24 25 Iceland 67.11
25 26 Russia 66.61
26 23 Malaysia 64.79
27 27 Hungary 64.37
28 28 Czech Republic 63.47
29 29 Spain 63.06
30 31 Portugal 61.38
31 30 Greece 61.37
32 34 Luxemburg 60.65
33 37 Turkey 60.26
34 32 Lithuania 59.04
35 38 Romania 58.94
36 33 Estonia 58.76
37 35 Hong Kong 57.05
38 36 Slovakia 56.88
39 40 Malta 54.27
40 39 Latvia 53.65
41 – Bulgaria 51.54
42 41 Croatia 51.24
43 45 Tunis 49.83
44 43 Serbia 48.93
45 44 Thailand 47.83
46 42 Ukraine 47.28
47 47 Cyprus 47.01
48 – South Africa 46.98
49 – Iran 46.09
50 50 Morocco 44.84
Source: Bloomberg Innovation Index
