UK still lags in innovation stakes

The Top 100 Global Innovators list compiled by Thomson Reuters is now in its fifth year and aims to identify innovation hotspots.

In spite of a raft of government tax and funding initiatives to boost innovation, however, no UK companies have made it onto the list in recent years.

The UK government has made several moves to promote innovation with direct funding to startups through organisations such as Innovate UK, introduction of a research and development tax credits scheme, and creation of the ’Patent Box’ to incentivise both development and commercialisation of new products.

The Thomson Reuters report says: “The United Kingdom is absent from the list yet again this year. Innovation incentives introduced in the UK, such as Patent Box legislation, do not have enough legacy yet to have had an impact.

“Additionally, the UK spends much less on R&D as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GERD) than the Top 100 Global Innovator countries do.”

The report applies a range of methodologies to combine patent volume with measures of quality, globalisation and impact of inventions after they are commercialised.

While 20 European companies made it onto the list, the region was outranked by North America (36) while Asia led the field with 44 companies, mainly from Japan.

A notable exception was China, which has maintained a stronger focus on domestic innovation, according to the report.

“Only about 6% of China’s innovation activity is protected, and commercialised, outside of China,” it says.

“In order for China to see more organisations join this prestigious group, it will need to think more internationally and look to bring its inventions to market around the world.”

Just two countries account for 75% of the list: Japan and the US, making them the true innovation hubs of the world, the report says.

The Top 100 report also evaluates industry sectors, and this year the chemical and cosmetics sector achieved the top spot by substantially lifting its representation on the list from 6 to 12 companies.

This is partly being driven by the small molecules that are being used in new ways as related to cosmetic applications, food chemistry, and flavouring, the report says.

“This change is indicative of the growing role chemicals play in our world, from influencing drug development and food chemistry to agriculture crops and industrial solvents.”

Innovation in the pharmaceutical industry is also being boosted by an era of precision medicine in addition to the increasing use of biologics in developing new treatments.

“The pharmaceutical space is experiencing a pseudo rebirth, despite the decline of the Blockbuster drug era,” it says.

Oil and gas companies, unrepresented in 2014, also found their way onto the list, boosted by the uptake of hydraulic fracking as well as an expansion by energy companies “from their traditional base in petroleum to new areas of innovation related to alternative energy”.

Another new entrant was ’electrical power’ which the report says is indicative of the increase in activity to find alternative sources of power for the planet.

“The 2015 Thomson Reuters Top 100 Global Innovators are a creative and successful group,” the report says.

“They are the organisations leading us into the future, by innovating, protecting their inventions with IP rights and commercialising them. Without them, our world would be a very different place.”