Page 62 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

THE JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SCIENCES: THEORY AND PRACTICE, V.79, # 1, 2022, pp. 50-68

Innovation activity covers all scientific, technical, organizational, financial and
commercial steps aimed to the implementation of innovations. As we know, the
main factors of innovation are institutions; human capital and scientific research;
infrastructure; market characteristics; business features; knowledge and technology
results; applies to creative outcomes. In this regard, the main factors mentioned are
reflected in the Global Innovation Index Report. The Global Innovation Index
includes two sub-indices: the Innovation Input Sub-Index and the Innovation Output
Sub-Index. The first sub-index is based on five pillars: Institutions, Human capital
and research, Infrastructure, Market sophistication, and Business sophistication. The
second sub-index is based on two pillars: Knowledge and technology outputs and
Creative outputs. Each pillar is divided into sub-pillars and each sub-pillar is
composed of individual indicators. Looking at the 2021 Report, we see that
Azerbaijan ranks 80th out of 132 countries with 28.4 points.
The profile of Azerbaijan in the Global Innovation Index reports for 2019-2021 is
given in the table below. Azerbaijan has improved its position in 2021 edition of GII
of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Azerbaijan took 80th place
in the ranking, in 2020 Azerbaijan ranked 82nd.

Table 1: Azerbaijan GII 2019-2021 rankings
2021 2020 2019
Factors
Score Rank Score Rank Score Rank
1. Institutions 65.5 58 65 59 64.5 59
2. Human capital and 24.2 89 21.8 89 17.0 106
research
3. Infrastructure 35.1 88 36.1 85 45.3 70
4. Market sophistication 53.2 36 52.2 36 56.5 31
5. Business 20.7 92 20.6 96 24.5 103
sophistication
6. Knowledge and 10.5 115 10.0 118 14.9 101
technology outputs
7. Creative outputs 23.5 67 20.5 65 22.8 84

According to the Gİİ reports from 2019 to 2021, Azerbaijan has made a little
improvement in innovation activities in the country. Azerbaijan has high scores in
two out of the seven GII pillars: Institutions and Market sophistication, which are
above average for the upper middle-income group. Conversely, Azerbaijan scores
below average for its income group in five pillars: Human capital & research,
Infrastructure, Business sophistication, Knowledge & technology outputs and
Creative outputs. The table above gives an overview of the strengths and weaknesses
of Azerbaijan in the GII 2021.

GII strengths for Azerbaijan are found in six of the seven GII pillars.

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