PurposeFor a nation to become a superpower, it's scientific and technological advancement is essential. Each country is exploring how to improve themselves in terms of science and technology. The authors analyzed the innovation capabilities of 35 OECD countries that have not recently joined Lithuania.Design/methodology/approachIn recent years, a lot of research work has been done on trapezoidal interval type-2 fuzzy sets (TIT-2 FS), and many research works have been published. The trapezoidal interval type-2 fuzzy set helps effectively to represent the uncertainty comparatively than the type-1 fuzzy set. Taking advantage of this effectiveness, the authors extend the best multi-criteria decision making method (MCDM) for trapezoidal interval type-2 fuzzy sets. Here, ELimination and Choice Expressing REality III (ELECTRE III) method in the trapezoidal interval type-2 fuzzy set environment is proposed.FindingsThis analysis helps to the OECD countries to develop their level of innovation in the criteria. The authors are making this evaluation for the year 2018 based on the 31 criteria. Application of the proposed method expressed by evaluation of the national innovation capability problem. Based on the obtained results, the top five countries are United States, Switzerland, Canada, Germany and Japan.Originality/valueThe authors collected required data from different available data sources like OECD, IMD, USPTO, ITU and surveyed data reported by KISTEP. After collecting all the data from different sources, the authors calculated the standard values as KISTEP. After converting the standard values into trapezoidal interval type-2 fuzzy values, the authors construct a decision matrix based on these values. Then, the authors determined the possibility mean values and preference. Then, they calculated the concordance and discordance credibility degree values. Finally, they ranked OECD countries by the net credibility degree. The results are computed by using the MATLAB software.
