Technology-Specific Analysis of Energy Innovation Systems

This is the 5th Chapter of the "GLOBAL INNOVATION INDEX 2018: Energizing the World with Innovation" report.

Abstract

The Global Innovation Index (GII) compiles and analyses quantitative metrics of innovation performance at the country level. The standardization and generalizability of the GII’s metrics allow for cross-country comparisons on a like-for-like basis. The GII’s metrics capture a wide range of institutional, human, infrastructural, market, and business factors that influence the efficiency with which countries convert innovation inputs into outputs. Put differently, the GII recognizes the importance of analysing ‘innovation systems’. The GII’s conceptual framework casts a wide net over many different elements of the innovation system, far beyond conventional measures such as research and development (R&D) expenditure and patents. As a result, ‘great emphasis is placed on the climate and infrastructure for innovation and on assessing related outcomes’.

This chapter shares the GII’s foundational insight that standardized metrics of innovation systems are essential for comparative assessments of innovation performance. But whereas the GII is concerned with country-level assessments and cross-country comparisons, the approach set out here is designed for technology-specific assessments and crosstechnology comparisons. This is complementary to the GII by drilling down from the broad ‘climate and infrastructure for innovation’ at the national level to the innovation system processes relevant and necessary for supporting specific energy technologies. This in turn allows energy innovation portfolios comprising multiple technologies to be assessed, both within and across countries.