Qatar has been ranked first in the Middle East and 26th globally – ahead of India and China – in the international business school Insead’s Global Innovation Index 2011, which was released on Sunday.

Qatar Tribune reports:

Qatar improved upon its last year’s position by nine points and is one of the two countries from the region to have made it to the global top 40.

The only other country from the Middle East in the top 40 is also a GCC member, the UAE, which fell 10 notches from its last year’s place to settle for the 34th spot in 2011.

Qatar scored high in several categories, including institutions, human capital and research and business sophistication.

But the country was weaker on infrastructure and market sophistication, and its ecological footprint (Qatar ranked 118 out of 125 countries) pulled its score down.

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