Research & Innovation

Bloomberg ranked countries based on their overall ability to innovate and identified the top 50. Six equally weighted metrics were considered and their scores combined to provide an overall score for each country from zero to 100.

The six metrics were R&D, manufacturing, hi-tech companies, education, research personnel and patents.

Ireland ranked 21^st in the world overall. Leading the overall rank was South Korea, followed by Japan, Germany, Finland and Israel. The US came in sixth place while the UK ranked 10^th.

In terms of R&D worldwide, Ireland ranked 20^th. Topping the list once again was South Korea followed by Israel and Finland.

Excelling at manufacturing and education

Ireland excelled in the manufacturing metric and is No 2 in the world, according to Bloomberg, after Switzerland.

In terms of hi-tech companies, Ireland didn’t fare too well, as the rankings were based on companies that emerged from countries as opposed to how many big names had a presence there. Not surprisingly, the US topped this list, followed by China and Japan, while Ireland languished in 35^thposition.

In the education stakes, Ireland did markedly better, achieving the rank of sixth in the world. The education list was topped by South Korea, Russia, Finland, Israel and Ukraine.

In terms of research personnel, Ireland ranked 22^nd in the world. Finland led the table for research personnel followed by Iceland, Denmark and Israel.

Ireland was 43^rd in the world when it came to patents. The overall leader for patents was South Korea, followed by Japan, China and the United States.