Israel slips to sixth place in annual Bloomberg Innovation Index
Startup Nation places first in R&D intensity, lags in productivity, manufacturing; Germany takes top spot from 6-year champion South Korea
Luke Tress is The Times of Israel's New York correspondent.

Israel is ranked sixth among the world’s most innovative economies, according to an Innovation Index published by the Bloomberg business news outlet, slipping one spot since last year, when it came in fifth place.
Germany was ranked first in the 2020 index, taking the top spot from South Korea, which moved to second place after six years on top.
Also ahead of Israel were Singapore in third, Switzerland in fourth, and Sweden in fifth place. The US fell one spot to ninth place and China moved up one to 15th.
The annual index, in its eighth year, ranks countries based on seven criteria measuring research and productivity.
Israel placed first in R&D intensity, which measures research and development expenditure as a percent of the country’s GDP, and second in researcher concentration, which measures the percent of professionals taking part in R&D in the general population. Israel lagged behind in measures of manufacturing, productivity and efficiency, however.
The biggest winner in the 2020 index, which listed the top 60 economies, was Slovenia, which moved up 10 places to 21st. The biggest drop was New Zealand, which fell five slots to 29th. Algeria, Egypt, Kazakhstan and Macao entered the rankings for the first time.
The list published on Saturday came ahead of global elites’ annual meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.