The Netherlands was the most innovative country in the EU in 2018 and the second "innovation" in the world. In the Global Innovation Index the first place was taken by Switzerland, the third by Sweden, the 4th by Great Britain, and the top five by Singapore.

A total of 126 countries are ranked in the rating. Ukraine took 43rd place, Russia 46th place between Vietnam and Chile. On the last place is Yemen.

The global innovation index is annually made up by the international business school INSEAD, Cornell University and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). They assess the innovative capacity of countries, based on statistics and expert opinions. This year, in the study for the index, in addition to innovations in general, energy technologies were also considered. Compilers note that success in the development of innovation in the next decades directly depends on whether humanity will have enough clean and cheap energy.