With an overall score 47.64 out of 100, Vietnam has jumped three places from last year to 57th on the annual index released by Bloomberg, the U.S.-based financial, software, data, and media company.

The ranking measures the world’s 60 most innovative countries using seven criteria: research and development intensity; productivity; patent activity; concentration of researchers, tertiary efficiency; hi-tech density; and value-added manufacturing.

Vietnam’s highest scores were 37th in hi-tech density, 40th in tertiary education efficiency and 42nd in patent activity. It ranked 52nd and 53rd in terms of value-added manufacturing and research and development intensity, respectively.

The country did not do well researcher concentration, standing 55th, while productivity ranking was lowest at 60th.

Vietnam’s productivity continues to lag behind many of its Southeast Asian neighbors, and use of outdated technology and a low-skilled workforce is widening the productivity gap, said Nguyen Bich Lam, general director of the General Statistics Office.

Based on purchasing power parity (PPP) at 2011 constant prices, the GSO estimateed Vietnam's overall labor productivity in 2018 at $11,142, lower than Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

In this year’s Bloomberg index, Germany surpassed South Korea to become the world’s most innovative economy.