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Pakistan doing very well innovation wise, ranks 87th on Global Innovation Index 2022
25 October 2022
Pakistan has been doing a splendid job innovation wise, performing above expectations on the World Intellectual Property Office’s Global Innovation Index 2022 (GII 2022).
Ranked 87th in the GII 2022, Pakistan has climbed the rankings, posting a performance that exceeds expectations relative to the country’s lower middle-income group economic status.
From 109th spot in the innovation rankings in 2018, the country jumped to 105th in 2019, fell to 107th in 2020 and recovered to claim the 99th position in 2021.
With its current ranking, Pakistan leads the Central and Southern Asia region for the first time in terms of innovation along with India, Iran and Uzbekistan.
“It can be said that over the past few years, the Pakistan government, its educational institutions and private businesses, have embarked upon the innovation highway, realizing the important role innovation can play in the development of the nation, its infrastructure, economy and the standard of living of the people of Pakistan,” said Hasan Irfan Khan, attorney-at-law at United Trademark & Patent Services in Lahore.
To be specific, the Pakistani government and its academe have established incubation centres for startups. Private investors and venture capital firms have also been investing in startups. Initiatives like these help startups scale up their products and bring them to market.
“In my opinion, the development of a positive performance innovation wise will tell the policymakers that intellectual property laws need to be improved and implemented effectively as they are needed to protect the innovative products developed by Pakistani startups, few of which are already sending signs of being unicorns out of Pakistan,” said Khan.
“I have, and our firm has helped a number of startups to obtain IP rights protections in Pakistan, and in several potential markets and play an important role in this respect. This innovation landscape certainly has huge potential for export to other countries which, if successfully achieved, will also make Pakistan economically strong and stable,” he added.
- Espie Angelica A. de Leon
