PARIS/NEW YORK -- South Korea has placed among the top five technological innovators for the first time, according to the latest global ranking, as other Asian economic powers moved up the hierarchy.
South Korea jumped from 10th place to fifth in this year's Global Innovation Index, the World Intellectual Property Organization reported Monday. The East Asian country was bested only by Switzerland, Sweden, the U.S. and the U.K.
The WIPO rankings grade 132 economies based on multiple categories. Elsewhere in Asia, Singapore stood in eighth place, unchanged from last year, while China rose two ranks to 12th.
Image: An ice carving robot at a bar in Seoul: South Korea was the highest-ranking Asian country in the World Intellectual Property Organization's Global Innovation Index this year. © Reuters