This puts Malaysia ahead of regional neighbours Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia, though Singapore ranked fourth overall.

However, the report gives Malaysia a slightly lower score of 40.5 compared with last year’s 40.9.

The science, technology and innovation ministry nonetheless said the improved position comes after three years in a row of Malaysia being ranked in 36th place on the annual index.

In a statement, it also said Malaysia was the second-most innovative nation after China among 36 upper-middle income countries in the report.

“Malaysia also managed to retain first place in three sub-indicators, namely graduates in science and engineering, high-tech exports and creative goods exports.”

The ministry said Kuala Lumpur was also listed among the 100 best science and technology clusters in the world, at 96th place. It said this was KL’s first time making the list since 2016.

“To ensure Malaysia reaches the top 30 of the Global Innovation Index rankings in 2025, the science, technology and innovation ministry is working with the various state governments on developing a Malaysia Innovation Index, to be launched next year.

“This initiative is aimed at identifying the strengths and weaknesses in every state’s innovation ecosystem, thus enabling intervention measures to strengthen the national ecosystem.”