Statistics from a UN agency report on Tuesday showed that the Brazilians needed more efforts to invest in their innovation capabilities in order to live up to their expected potential.

Brazil dropped 11 points to the 58th place in the annual Global Innovation Index (GII), a ranking of the world's most innovative countries published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Insead Institute.

Brazil slipped 11 positions compared with last year, suffering the biggest drop among the BRICS countries -- Brazil, China, India, Russia, and South Africa, which are also seen as the world's leading emerging economies.

According to the report, Brazil's drop "demonstrates the importance of addressing structural weaknesses in innovation ecosystems in the face of a global slowdown in growth."

The report also ranked Brazil in other areas, including business environment at 127, tertiary education at 115, credit conditions at 108 and trade at 108, which are considered "particularly worrisome."

Among the BRICS nations, Russia ranked at 51, India at 64, China at 34 and South Africa at 54.

The report said the "BRICS countries have been seen as drivers of the global economic engine since 2008," especially as high-income economies have been decelerating.

"But these countries too are slowing down, and despite their untapped potential, they need to continue to invest in building their innovation infrastructure," the report said.

Last year's top three -- Switzerland, Sweden and Singapore -- retain their positions, followed by Finland, Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark, China's Hong Kong, Ireland and the United States.

(Source: Xinhua)