This is like counting the number of commits to check the health status of a project
IBM used to (still does?) measure innovation and research success in total number of patents it holds. It's one of those misaligned incentives that are good for marketing and self-congratulating but rarely translate into actual leadership in business or technology.
Third sentence in the article: "The Bloomberg index analyzes dozens of criteria using seven equally weighted metrics, including research and development spending, manufacturing capability and concentration of high-tech public companies."
innovation != patents
Innovation is still innovation even if nobody holds a monopoly on it.