(Yicai Global) June 3 -- China moved into 14th place on a worldwide ranking of national innovation ability last year, up one spot from the year before, and is the only developing country in the top 15, according to a new survey.

China scored a mark of 72.5 on the 2020 National Innovation Index compiled by the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology under the Ministry of Science and Technology, ousting Singapore which fell to 15th place.

It came just behind the UK in 10th place, Finland in 11th, France in 12th and Ireland in 13th, all of which are developed European countries with a gross domestic product per capital of around USD50,000, according to the report, which was released during the ongoing 2021 Pujiang Innovation Forum in Shanghai.

The US came top, followed by Japan and South Korea, the report said, which canvassed 40 countries. The top 15 are regarded as innovative countries, the middle 15 include some emerging economies and the last 10 are mostly developing countries.

China advanced in two key sub-indicators from the last survey in 2019, namely in 'innovation resources' and 'innovation environment,' but remained unchanged in the three other sub-indicators of 'knowledge creation', 'business innovation' and 'innovation performance,' according to the survey.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor