Innovation performance

سابقه نواوری

Context •Economy of Iran •Regional Innovation •
Posted by Rezwan • May 01, 2009 • (0) Comments •
Printer friendly • • مطلب را به بالاترین بفرستید: Balatarin

Iran, as a country, does not appear to be innovative or inventive. Let's not even compare it to America or Japan. Let's compare it to Uganda. Using "patent applications" as a measure of innovation, and using UN data current through 2002, we see that Iran, a middle income country with a population of almost 70 million, had, in 2001, applied for 993 patents (their maximum, by that date), while Uganda, a poor country with a population of 24 million, applied for 150,408 patents. Big difference.

The role of individual Iranian inventors is hidden in this data. Many Iranians are active in foreign universities and companies and may have their names on patents credited to other countries. The issue is not the capability of Iranian individuals, but rather the state of innovation in Iran as a country. Iran, as we can see from this raw data, does not foster innovation.

Click on the map below to go to an interactive version of the map that allows you to click "Play" and watch the data unfold over time.

"Patent applications" can be misleading. Let's look at "patents granted" below. Here we see that, even though Ugandan's applied for 150,408 patents in 2001, only 92 patents were granted that year. I wonder why. Aside from these dry numbers, no explanation is given about the patent application process. Is it international? Is it national? More information is required for analysis. The only thing we can tell from this information is that Iran is simply inactive in both patent applications and patent grants.

Here's a look at patents granted, by country:

These graphs were generated by using the free tools available at Gapminder.org. Visit the site and make your own graphs. Use them to illustrate your points.

Unfortunately, all the UN data is not available for these maps, but Gapminder.org is working to make that happen, as noted in this TED lecture by Hans Rosling: Debunking third-world myths with the best stats you've ever seen

Here is the above-referenced video on our site for your viewing pleasure: