Boston: Singapore has emerged as the world's 3^rd most biotech innovative country in the annual ranking of countries according to their score for innovation in biotech, prepared by leading science magazine, Scientific American Worldview. Singapore has a score of 35.57 and only the US (38) and Denmark (37.18) are ahead of the island nation in this annual ranking. (See the full rank list)

Releasing the 4^th annual ranking at the BIO convention, Scientific American's editorial director, Mr Mike May, said the huge investments made in the sector by the local government as well the political stability and predictable regulatory regime propelled Singapore to the top once again.

The annual exercise, done by Scientific American Worldview, in association with the US Biotech Industry Organization (BIO), since 2009, has had Singapore in the top three position for the last three years.

Singapore's neighbour Malaysia ranks 29^th in the list. Taiwan is 21^st, South Korea is 22. The two Asian giants China (43) and India (47) figure too low in the list.

"The Scientific American Worldview offers an assessment tool-a way for a country to review, in an objective manner, its biotechnology-innovation performance and the behaviours that generated that result," remarked the magazine's publishing director Mr Jeremy Abbate while releasing the results. " From there, the biotechnology experts, government officials and other related parties can formulate a plan to enhance their home grown and imported capabilities in this innovation-driven field."

The annual survey involved analysis of 65 countries which then ranked only the Top 50. Each country received a score in six categories — intellectual property, enterprise support, intensity, education/workforce, foundations and political stability. The overall innovation scores represents a simple sum of the category averages, normalized to a scale of 0-50.

According to the magazine's editors, the scorecard gives equal importance to a business-friendly environment, public biotechnology companies per capita, PhD graduates in life sciences per capita, etc.