Lithuania moved up two places from the 40th spot last year. Latvia made the biggest improvement among the three Baltic countries, jumping six places, to 30 from 36, and Estonia rose four positions, to 19 from 23.
"Lithuania is one of the leaders among learners, outperforming Russia, Slovakia, and Poland, and being placed in the same group as Italy, Spain, and China," the Lithuanian Knowledge Economy Forum quoted Kęstutis Janiūnas, director of the laser technology company Ekspla.
"The index analyzes data from 2008 to 2009, but we made a significant progress in the field of innovation in 2010 to 2011. Government bureaucracy has somewhat decreased, and businesses are more active in research, and there are tax incentives," he said.
Switzerland, Sweden, and Singapore remained are at the top of the index this year.
Lithuania's best scores are for ecological sustainability (6th place), GDP growth per worker (6th place as well), tertiary enrolment (10th place), and knowledge impact (14th place). The country received its worst rankings for knowledge absorption (130th place), gross capital formation (120th place), and state of cluster development (112th place).
Certain new criteria were added to the index this year.
