Index ranks Japan Asia's most efficient innovator

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A new index ranks Japan and South Korea as most efficient among Asian countries in turning the building blocks of creativity into tangible innovations that benefit industry and the public while Myanmar, Pakistan and Cambodia are least efficient.

The Asian Development Bank developed the index with the Economist Intelligence Unit to give policymakers a tool to assess how best to foster innovation and creativity in 22 Asian economies. The United States and Finland are included for comparison.

The index uses 36 indicators to measure capacity and incentives for innovation, including how many global top 500 universities a country has, the urbanization rate and spending on research and development. The number of patents filed and the number of books and films produced are among eight indicators of creative production used.