China becomes the first middle-income country to join the ranks of the world's 25 most-innovative economies, according to the Global Innovation Index (GII) released last Monday.
据上周一发布的全球创新指数显示，中国成为首个跻身世界最具创新力经济体25强的中等收入国家。
The country's improved performance has notched the 17th place in "innovation quality", an indicator that looks at the caliber of universities, number of scientific publications and international patent filings.
中国的创新表现有所改善，在"创新质量"方面排名第17，这是个考量高校水平、科学出版物数量和国际专利申请量的指标。
This makes China the leader among middle-income economies for this indicator, followed by India which has overtaken Brazil, according to the report jointly released by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
根据康奈尔大学、英士国际商学院和世界知识产权组织联合发布的这一份报告，这使得中国成为中等收入经济体中该指标的领先者，紧随其后的是已经超过巴西的印度。

Despite China's rise, an "innovation divide" persists between developed and developing countries amid increasing awareness among policymakers that fostering innovation is crucial to a vibrant, competitive economy.
尽管中国排名上升，随着决策者越来越意识到加强创新是一个经济体充满活力、竞争力的关键，发达国家与发展中国家在创新方面仍存在差距。
Switzerland, Sweden and the UK again occupied the top three slots in the ranking. Fifteen of the top 25 economies in the GII come from Europe.
瑞士、瑞典、英国再次占据榜单前三名。全球创新指数25强经济体中，有15个来自欧洲。
And among the GII 2016 leaders, four economies — Japan, the US, the UK, and Germany— stand out in innovation quality.
2016年全球创新指数排名靠前的经济体中，日本、美国、英国、德国在创新质量方面表现突出。
"Investing in innovation is critical to raising long-term economic growth," said WIPO Director General Francis Gurry. "In this current economic climate, uncovering new sources of growth and leveraging the opportunities raised by global innovation are priorities for all stakeholders."
世界知识产权组织总干事弗朗西斯·居里表示：“投资创新是提高长期经济增长的关键。在当前的经济形势下，发现新的增长来源并利用全球创新所带来的机会是所有利益相关者的优先事项。”
Statistics show global research and development expenditure grew at an annual pace of approximately seven percent before 2009, but slowed down to four percent in 2014
统计数据显示，在2009年之前，全球研发支出以每年约7%的速度增长，但在2014年放缓了4%。
"Investing in improving innovation quality is essential for closing the innovation divide," said Soumitra Dutta, dean of Cornell College of Business and co-editor of the report.
康乃尔大学商学院院长兼该报告的合著者苏米特拉·达塔表示：“在提高创新素质上面投资是 缩小创新鸿沟的关键。”