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France came 11th in last year’s Global Innovation Index (GII), an annual ranking of the innovative capacities and strengths of most of the world’s economies. That might seem less than impressive compared with some of its near neighbours, such as the United Kingdom in fourth place and Switzerland in first (see ‘Global Innovation Index 2021’). It is, however, a big improvement on its rankings of 16th in 2019 and 22nd in 2011.
French innovators, whether academic or in the private sector, have become more outward-looking. “It was previously possible to be a successful academic, researcher or innovator while only speaking French,” says Switzerland-based economist Bruno Lanvin, co-founder and director of the Portulans Institute, a think tank in Washington DC that co-publishes the GII with the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. However, he says, this “prevented French innovations spreading beyond the country’s borders. English became compulsory in primary schools and today French innovators are more international in their outlook.”
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