In the 2020 edition of the Global Innovation Index (GII), Singapore has retained the top rank as the most innovative nation in Asia Pacific. Globally, Singapore has maintained the eighth place where the top five positions are taken by Switzerland, Sweden, the United States of America, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

Jointly published by WIPO, Cornell University and INSEAD, the GII is a ranking of world economies based on innovation capabilities measured through 80 indicators to capture the multi-dimensional facets of world innovations. In this edition the GII focuses on the state of innovation financing to examine the evolution of financing mechanisms for entrepreneurs and innovators, the progress as well as the challenges such as the economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis. The indicators are grouped into innovation inputs and outputs where the inputs comprise elements of the national economy that enable innovative activities and the outputs comprise the results of the innovative activities of the economies. Among the world economies, Singapore performed best in the quality of the innovation inputs, particularly in political, regulatory and business environments. However, Singapore performed relatively weak in the innovation outputs particularly in intangible assets such as trademarks and industrial designs by origin.