That's admittedly a less prestigious position than the four countries that ranked higher, but a far sight better than last year's 10th-place ranking.

The GII represents a collaboration among a number of academic and corporate entities. Each year, it catalogues an exhaustive report on the ability of every country to innovate; the report ranks these nations according to their relative economic strength.

The United States falls under the GII's "high-income economy" category, which includes 45 countries worldwide. Switzerland came in first place among high-income economies, followed by Sweden, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Finland placed just below the United States, followed by Hong Kong, Singapore, Denmark and Ireland.