South Korea has again landed first place in Bloomberg’s list of innovative countries, which is ranked annually. South Korea is the only country that has been placed in the top spot in seven out of the nine years since the index has been published. The country also scored 90.49 points on a scale from 0 to 100, as the only country with more than 90 points.
The index evaluates various criteria, including research and development spending, manufacturing ability and concentration of high-technology companies.
Bloomberg stated, “The 2021 rankings reflect a world where the fight against Covid-19 has brought innovation to the fore –- from government efforts to contain the pandemic, to the digital infrastructure that’s allowed economies to work through it, and the race to develop vaccines that can end it. Much of the Bloomberg data comes from before the virus crisis. Still, it’s notable that many countries high on the index –- like Korea, Germany and Israel –- have been world leaders in some areas of fighting the pandemic, whether it’s contact-tracing or speedy vaccination.”
South Korea’s return to the top of the list is much credited to an increase in patent activity – which leads as the world’s top, solid performance in R&D and manufacturing.
Professor Lee Kyoung-mook of Seoul National University’s Business management commented, “R&D is essential to have a future. It’s sandwiched between more developed nations, which still outperform them in technology, and China that is catching up fast relying on lower labor costs.”
Germany’s losing out of the top spot this year follows a warning two years ago by Juergen Michels, chief economist of Bayerische Landesbank, who expressed that Germany lacked proper strategy for future generation technology.
Although the U.S. and China both influence much of the world’s innovation, they’re also currently locked in a battle over issues like intellectual property rights. This year, both nations declined in the ranking.
Lollapalooza organizers released the artist lineup for this year’s festival held in Chicago’s Grant Park. The annual event often brings a wide-range of artists to the Chicago-area. From Pop to Hip-Hop, Rock to Punk, Lollapalooza... Read More
A-Team’s male idol group VAV is down another member as Baron opted to depart the group and the company. On March 10, A-Team released a statement confirming Baron’s departure. Hello. This is A-Team Entertainment. We inform you that VAV... Read More
Another second-generation girl group may be making a comeback! On March 21, JBTC announced Nine Muses (often stylized as 9Muses) and their sub-unit Nine Muses-A are supposedly in talks to make comebacks in the coming months, with Nine Muses-A... Read More
Singer Se7en (Choi Dong Wook) and his long-time girlfriend, actress Lee Da-hae announced they will be getting married in May! Se7en and Lee both shared the news on Instagram. Se7ven said: Hello, this is SE7EN. 2023 marks 20 years since my... Read More
– KIM WOO SEOK reveals 4th Mini Album comeback scheduler in clock form – The 4th album in time succeeded in making people curious about the time traveler concept. Singer KIM WOO SEOK unveiled the comeback scheduler on his... Read More
Press images Download & streaming links Dance performance video ‘Exoprimal’ game trailer ‘Funky Jumping’, the latest track from Japanese boyband Da-iCE, has been used as the theme tune to ‘Exoprimal’, the new team-based multiplayer... Read More
Download & streaming links Performance video Having made their debut in 2017 with the hit single ‘Best Part of Us’, Japanese masked production unit AmPm have won fans all around the world. Today, March 17, AmPm have released ‘Sweet... Read More
“The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess” is a very popular Japanese light novel series which was written by Kotei Kobayashi originally and illustrated by Riichu. This work won the award of excellence at the GA Bunko Grand Prix. The... Read More
The sassy progressive K-pop group will make their way to nine cities for their first-ever North American Tour starting on May 16th after unforgettable performances in Asia Tickets are on sale on at 10am local time on March 29 at Ticketmaster.com... Read More
The 95th annual Academy Awards were held March 12, 2023. The night was filled with surprises and was nothing short but historic for A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once (EEAAO) and its cast and directors. EEAAO earned 11 nominations for... Read More
Leave a Reply