Innovation performance and its determinants: what does it take to succeed?

Purpose This paper aims to depart from the national innovation system (NIS) arguments that countries' institutional arrangements and performance result from various complementary factors that generate innovative activities and products within economies. Design/methodology/approach To further explore these dimensions, the main objective of this paper is to address the determinants of global heterogeneity in the innovation outcomes of the nations. Thus, the research employs descriptive data analysis and multivariate regression models, using data from the Global Innovation Index (GII) to analyze innovation systems cross-regionally concerning institutional arrangements and performance. Since 2013, the GII, has annually measured and ranked the innovation inputs and outputs of more than a hundred countries based on a comprehensive and sophisticated approach and a multidimensional perspective. Findings The author found the empirical results remarkably interesting in many respects. The different indexes of innovation inputs affect the country's performance level, but not all show a statistically significant impact on innovation outputs. Institutions and infrastructure indexes do not affect the innovative performance of the economies. The main determinants of innovation performance worldwide are business sophistication, human capital & research (HC&R) and market sophistication. In short, the research presents an original contribution, mainly because it explores different views on NIS disparities worldwide, using complementary methodological strategies and based on comprehensive data on innovative inputs and outputs in the countries. Originality/value The findings add new evidence-based knowledge on the determinants of innovation performance in different realities, such as political, economic and administrative. These realities formulate innovation policies and implement them worldwide.