What does efficient and inefficient innovators mean?

Question

I have been reading through this article about Innovation Indexes.

In this, I have come across the terms: "Efficient Innovators" and "Inefficient Innovators" in this plot:

So, what do they mean? And how are they calculated/determined?

Answer 1

My understanding of this chart is based on the Global Innovation Index 2015 report. Definitions are not explicit however.

They compute an Innovation Efficiency Ratio as the ratio of the "Output Sub-Index" score over the "Input Sub-Index" score (definitions of these scores are presented in Figure 1). It is designed to assess the effectiveness of innovation systems and policies. In other words, this ratio shows how much innovation output a given country is getting for its inputs. Based on Table 1, all the countries with a ratio over the median (.71) appear to be considered as "efficient innovators".

For instance, Angola and Côte d'Ivoire do not show significant innovation input and output results, yet their efficiency ratios appear high because their outputs outweigh their inputs on a low level.