This document is the introduction to the 14th edition of the Global Innovation Index (GII) for 2021. It provides an overview of some of the key findings from this year's report, which analyzes global innovation performance and rankings for over 130 economies during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the pandemic has severely disrupted many economies, the innovative sectors have remained strong with continued growth in areas like R&D expenditures, scientific publications, intellectual property filings, and venture capital deals in 2020. The GII aims to help policymakers better understand how to create innovation-enabling policies and ecosystems to support translating new ideas into solutions to overcome challenges like the pandemic and build stronger economies. It has supported countries in improving their innovation over the