Knowledge Index: R&D tugs down Bangladesh below global average

Bangladesh has been mentioned to have a modest performance in the Global Knowledge Index 2021 thanks to the improvements made in the technical and vocational education and training, and knowledge economy. 

Yet, the country's consistent poor performances in the research, development and innovation sector last year have constrained it from reaching the world average.

Bangladesh's overall position was at 120th out of 154 countries in the index as it performed the worst in the research, development and innovation sector among the seven areas that incorporate the index.

Even though Bangladesh improved its overall score by 2.2 points to 38.1 in the latest index published by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation (MBRF) in Dubai on Monday, it remained below the global average of 48.4.

The 2021 index was based on 155 variables under seven sub-indices – pre-university education, technical and vocational training, higher education, research, development and innovation, information and communications technology, economy and enabling environment – drawn from over 40 international sources and databases.

Bangladesh achieved only 19.2 in the research, development and innovation sector and was ranked 136th. Last year, the country also scored the lowest in this sector among others.

Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh, said the index reflects the actual picture of the research and development scenario in Bangladesh. As a major reason, he pointed out that Bangladeshi universities are not even top 500 among the world.     

Ahsan H Mansur said Bangladeshi industries are mostly prototype "copy-paste" industries since most of them rarely think about innovation.

He said, "We have been unable to be a part of the Asian value chain. For instance, Thailand is exporting automobile parts to Japan, but we don't. Though Thailand may seem to be a comparable country to Bangladesh, its automobile industrial base is very strong."

In the index, Bangladesh scored best in the technical and vocational education and training sector among the seven sub-indices, placing 77th with a score of 51.5. The sub-index consists of two pillars – formation and professional training, and features of the labour market.

In the economy sub-index, consisting of three pillars that are knowledge competitiveness, economic openness, and financing and domestic value addition, Bangladesh ranked 101st with a score of 46.9.

With a score of 44.7, Bangladesh ranked 119th in the pre-university education sector that represents knowledge capital and educational capacity to enable the environment.

Moreover, Bangladesh ranked 117th with a score of 28.3 in the ICT sector which consist of three pillars: infrastructure, access and usage.

The enabling environment supports six sectoral indices, as these sectors do not operate in isolation. Bangladesh ranked 134th with a score of 41.

Switzerland is the world's leading performer in terms of its knowledge infrastructure, and the country retained its number-one rank for five years in a row, followed by Sweden, the United States, Finland and the Netherlands.

In knowledge infrastructure, Bangladesh beats Pakistan and Nepal

Last year, Bangladesh scored 35.9 and was ranked 112th out of 138 countries and was placed at the bottom among six South Asian countries.

This year, the country with a score of 38.1 beat Pakistan (123rd) and Nepal (128th) who scored 37.9 and 36.4 respectively.

With an overall score of 46.6, Sri Lanka topped the index in the region, and was ranked 86th globally. India placed second in the region with 2.3 points less than Sri Lanka, and stood at 97th globally.

Bhutan and Bangladesh came up third and fourth in the region. Afghanistan, the new entrant, has placed bottom in the region and also fourth worst globally.

Ahsan H Mansur said, "Sri Lanka has been a highly educated country for a very long time, which could have helped them perform better."

On a surprising note, Vietnam, only four years younger than Bangladesh and the country's top RMG competitor, ranked 66th in the 2021 index, 54 spots ahead of Bangladesh.

"The government must rethink the trade policies related to industrial protection," Ahsan H Mansur concluded.