Digitization of the global economy continues to drive increased cooperation, but global fragmentation of frontier technologies could slow global productivity growth. The innovation and technology pillar examines elements of global cooperation that can accelerate innovation and create beneficial technological progress. In 2023, growth in this pillar continued the positive trajectory it has seen since 2012 (see Figure 6). Almost all metrics remain above their pre-pandemic averages (above the black line in Figure 7). International students are the exception, which remain below their pre-pandemic average.The digitization of the global economy continued to propel the growth of this pillar. In particular, IT services trade, cross-border data flows and the number of individuals using the internet continued to increase in 2023. Global cooperation in technology and innovation also continued to drive global adoption of new technologies. Lithium-ion batteries, which rely on highly global value chains, saw their prices fall in 2023.35 This was partly driven by continued innovation and a strong ramp-up in the supply of intensely traded critical minerals inputs, often enabled by advances in prospecting and extraction technologies. Pillar 2 Innovation and technology Innovation and technology trends FIGURE 6 2012-20 2020-22 2022-23 ExtrapolationImprovement in: 8/9 2012-20 6/9 2020-22 6/8 2022-23-10 -20 -5 0 5 10 150.600.650.700.750.800.850.900.951.001.051.10 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022There were gains across the innovation portfolio in 2023, moderated only by declining trade in goods Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) % Innovation and technology index Average price of a lithium-ion battery*,** IT services trade International students Cross-border data ﬂows Individuals using the internet** Total factor productivity growth** Cross-border patent applications IT goods/intermediates trade Cross-border R&D*Metrics were reflected given negative connotation. **Outcome metrics. Note: Due to missing data in some metrics, data from the closest years are used to calculate the trend. These metrics include cross-border data flows. Sources: The Conference Board, International Telecommunication Union, BloombergNEF, Cisco, United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD), PATSTAT, Institute of International Education (IIE), Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), McKinsey & Company analysis. The Global Cooperation Barometer 2025 Second Edition 14