At the major achievements press conference of the 2025 Zhongguancun Forum Annual Meeting held on March 31, the China Academy of Science and Technology Development Strategy released the "National Innovation Index Report 2024". The report shows that the global innovation landscape maintains a tripartite balance between Asia, the United States, and Europe, with leading countries having outstanding advantages in scientific and technological innovation. China ranks 10th in comprehensive innovation capability, approaching the level of major developed countries in Europe. Liu Dongmei, Secretary of the Party Committee of the China Academy of Science and Technology Development Strategy, said in an interview with Science and Technology Daily that thanks to the continuous increase in innovation resource investment, outstanding knowledge output, continuous improvement of enterprise innovation capabilities, and gradual improvement of innovation environment in recent years, it has effectively supported and led the high-quality development of the country. Over the past 12 years, China's National Innovation Index has increased by 10 places. This report constructs an evaluation index system from five dimensions: innovation resources, knowledge creation, enterprise innovation, innovation performance, and innovation environment, and conducts innovation capability evaluations for 40 countries around the world. The total R&D investment of these 40 countries accounts for over 95% of the world's total, their GDP accounts for over 85% of the world's total, and their population accounts for about 60% of the world's total. The new report benchmarks the characteristics of the elements of a technological powerhouse and further optimizes and improves the evaluation index system. The results show that in 2024, China's National Innovation Index will rank 10th in the world, an increase of 10 places compared to the 20th place in 2012. It is the fastest progressing country in over a decade and the only middle-income country to enter the top ten in the world. In terms of specific scores, China's National Innovation Index score is 70.1 points, surpassing France, and the gap between China and countries ranked 5-9 such as Japan, the United Kingdom, and Germany is between 2.4-6.8 points. China's main indicator growth rate is higher than that of developed countries. China's innovation capability is close to that of European countries with a per capita GDP of around $50000, and it is still in a steady upward trend Researcher Xuan Zhaohui, Director of the Institute of Technology Forecasting and Statistical Analysis at the China Academy of Science and Technology Development Strategy, said. From the five sub indices of the National Innovation Index, China has performed well in all dimensions, with outstanding performance in innovation resources and knowledge creation. Among them, innovation resources rank fifth. According to data from 2022, China's R&D investment accounts for 20.1% of the global total, ranking second in the world and equivalent to 49.5% of the R&D investment in the United States; RD/GDP reached 2.49% (increasing to 2.68% by 2024), ranking 14th; The proportion of basic research funding to the total R&D expenditure in society is 6.57% (increasing to 6.91% by 2024), ranking 34th. The number of top research institutions on the Nature Index ranks second in the world. Knowledge creation ranks 7th. China's share of highly cited articles in the world has significantly increased, and its ranking remains at the top of the world; The number of effective invention patents in China has reached 3.351 million, ranking first in the world. Ranked 9th in enterprise innovation. The proportion of China's third-party patents in the global total has rapidly increased, reaching 10.4%, and the number of PCT patents (entering the national phase) has reached 38000, both ranking third in the world. Moreover, China ranks 22nd in terms of innovation performance. The export value of high-tech industries accounts for 22.3% of the world's total, ranking first. Ranked 20th in terms of innovation environment. The score of China's entrepreneurial culture ranks second, the degree of collaboration between enterprises and universities in research and development ranks fifth, and the availability of venture capital ranks eighth. The report on the prominent advantages of leading countries in scientific and technological innovation points out that the global innovation development maintains a tripartite pattern of Asia, the United States, and Europe, and leading countries have outstanding advantages in scientific and technological innovation. Among them, North America remains the strongest pole in the world in terms of innovation capability. The United States and Canada together account for 4.7% of the world's population and 27.6% of the world's GDP, but their total RD investment accounts for 40.2% of the world's total. At the same time, the overall performance of the European region is strong; The major countries in East Asia and the Pacific region have performed well, with a clear upward trend. It is worth noting that the innovation gap between countries around the world is still evident, with the main research and development activities and innovation outputs concentrated in the top 15 first group countries. Among them, although the population of the first group countries accounts for only 27.8% of the global population and 63.4% of the global economic output, their R&D expenditure accounts for 84.5% of the world's total. The population of the third group countries ranked after 31st accounts for 26.7% of the global population and 11.3% of the global economic output, but their R&D expenditure only accounts for 3.1% of the world's total. From the comparison over the years, the leading first group countries have outstanding advantages in comprehensive scientific and technological innovation capabilities, and their innovation index rankings have been basically stable since 2012 According to Xuan Zhaohui's analysis, among the 15 countries, only China's comprehensive ranking has undergone significant changes, rapidly rising from 20th place in 2012 to 10th place in 2024. The remaining 14 countries remain stable with slight changes in ranking. The report also shows that the United States ranked second overall in 2012 and has been ranked first since 2013; Switzerland has consistently ranked among the top three and will be ranked second in 2024. (New Society)