PM Netanyahu and German Chancellor Merkel tour an innovation exhibition at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem in October. (Kobi Gideon/GPO via Flash90)

Israel finds itself above the U.S. and Japan among others in innovation.

By David Jablinowitz, World Israel News

Israel has been catapulted to fifth place in the Bloomberg innovation index for 2019, climbing from 10th place last year and jumping ahead of the U.S., which has been ranked eighth, actually rising three spots.

Also behind Israel are Singapore in sixth place and Japan in the ninth position.

The annual index is being published for the seventh time. It analyzes dozens of criteria using seven metrics, including research and development (R&D) spending, manufacturing capability, and concentration of high-tech public companies. The ranking comes as global leaders are gathering at this week’s annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Better patent registration is credited as a major reason for the Israeli improvement.

Bloomberg placed South Korea in first place on the index for the sixth time due to new investments in key technologies and a regulatory plan for encouraging startups. Germany advanced into second place due to investment in production and research by many of its industrial giants, such as Volkswagen, Daimler, and Bosch, in addition to education improvements, bringing Europe’s largest economy to near-parity with the top-ranking country.

Third and fourth places were taken by Finland and Switzerland, respectively.

Israel came in first for R&D intensity, second in researcher concentration, the number of professionals engaged in R&D per capita, fourth for patent activity, fifth for high-tech density, defined as the number of domestically housed high-tech public companies, and eighth in productivity

China, while classified as the world’s second-largest economy, was rated only in 16th place on the Bloomberg innovation listing, though it marked an improvement from last year’s 19th place finish.

Bloomberg says that it examined 200 countries overall.