The list of the most innovative world economies in 2016 is definitely dominated by European representatives, whilst Croatia has also found its place on the upper part of the list. According to this year's Global Innovation Index (GII) among 128 countries which account for 97.9 percent of the world economy, Croatia is on the 47th position.

In comparison to last year Croatia has dropped by seven places on the list in 2016. However, on the last year's list there were 141 countries. This year neighbouring countries of Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary have placed better than Croatia (Slovenia placed as the 32nd and Hungary as the 33rd). Croatia is followed by other countries of the former Balkan country Yugoslavia such as Montenegro (51st), Macedonia (58th), Serbia (65th), whilst Bosnia and Herzegovina has had the worst ranking on the list in 2016 (87th).

The Global Innovation Index is a project of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Cornell University and Insead Business School. In forming the list of economy innovation several areas have been taken into consideration such as a development of infrastructure, stability of institutions, market and business sophistication, creative production and research. Croatia has placed as 42nd in the stability of the institutions.

According to the Global Innovation Index this year Croatia has the worst ranking in the category of market sophistication (73rd) which includes the access to finance, protection of investors or the number of projects financed by risk capital. ''The result of this research is not surprising if we compare Croatia to other neighbouring countries and comparable economies'', commented Zdeslav Santic, the chief economist at Splitska Banka.

Among the TOP 10 most innovative world economies 8 countries come from Europe. The list is topped by Switzerland which ''defended'' last year's title, followed by Sweden and Great Britain. From non-European representatives on the TOP 10 list are the US which placed as the 4th and Singapore which ranked as the 6th most innovative economy in the world.