The consulting company Clarivate Analytics based in London and Philadelphia has analyzed a total of 14,000 companies worldwide for its report Derwent Top 100 Global Innovators 2020. It lists two companies from Basel as some of the most innovative firms in the world. The pharmaceutical company Novartis has featured in this list every year since 2015 and is now one of the hundred most innovative companies in the world for the sixth time running. Its local competitor Roche has had a continuous presence in the list since 2012, making it the only pharmaceutical company in the world to be one of the globally most innovative companies for the ninth time. The third Swiss company in the list is ABB, a technology firm from Zurich.

These three entries in the list make Switzerland one of the most innovative countries in the world. China and South Korea are also represented by three listings, Taiwan and Germany by four companies, and France by five. The USA is now at the top of the list, with 39 innovative companies, which is six more than the previous year. Japan is still doing well, but with seven fewer companies than last year, it takes second place with 32 firms.

The analysts from Clarivate Analytics not only use the number of patents granted to the companies but also their influence on other innovators and their presence in the various major global markets to support their assessment. They also point out that the importance of large companies is dwindling in the world of innovation. The thousand most innovative companies in the world in 2019 only possessed 18 percent of all patents. Six years before, this was 27 percent. At the same time, they say that it is becoming more and more difficult for up-and-coming companies to gain access into the exclusive circle of the most innovative companies. stk