France moves up 4 places in the global innovation ranking, climbing to the 12th position, according to the GII international index. A significant improvement, according to the INSEAD business school. But France remains behind the United Kingdom (4th in the ranking) and Germany (9th).

Thanks to significant support in recent years for innovation, France has moved up 4 places in the rankings of innovative countries, moving up to 12th in the world, according to the GII international index for 2020. “It’s a noteworthy change because the higher you are in the ranking, the harder it is to progress,” explained Bruno Lanvin, from the INSEAD business school, which calculates the index every year with Cornell University in the United States, and the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

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However, despite this increase, France still lags the other two European countries of similar size, the United Kingdom (4th in the ranking) and Germany (9th), and is only the eighth European country. Switzerland is the global innovation champion according to this barometer, which places the United States in third place and China in 14th place. According to Bruno Lanvin, project manager at INSEAD, the country’s better ability to take advantage of long recognised assets can explain the French improvement, such as the “quality of its education”.

“It is now easier to create a start-up in France and to find financing,” says Mr Lanvin, who cites the research tax credit (CICE – a tax credit for competitiveness and employment) as a factor for improvement. France has also shown progress in other areas in recent years, such as the quality and number of publications in major international journals, he says. The ranking of French universities and schools in the international so-called Shanghai ranking has also improved. There is “greater global visibility of France” regarding innovation, he summarises.

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France has also benefited from changes in the index’s calculation, including the value of its major brands (Total, Orange and Axa are cited in the report). According to Mr Lanvin, the factors that contribute to keeping France behind 7 other European countries are often to be found in administrative burdens or social constraints.

“The cost of everything related to hiring and firing is very high, both for the public authorities and for companies,” he said. France has yet to show its continued actions in this area. “There have been too many variations in the past,” he added.