Artificial intelligence is driving a rebound in venture capital (VC) funding and research and development (R&D) spending, while emerging economies continue to show innovation growth alongside traditional innovation leaders, according to WIPO’s Global Innovation Index 2026.
Switzerland, Sweden, the United States of America (US), the Republic of Korea and Singapore continue to lead the global innovation rankings in 2026. At the same time, China, India, Viet Nam, Türkiye, the Philippines, Morocco and Indonesia (in order of ranking) have been climbing up the ranks quickly over the past decade.
The WIPO GII relies on 79 indicators - from R&D, to high-tech trade, skilled employment and the licensing of intellectual property - in evaluating 139 economies on their innovation performance. It is the world's benchmark resource for policymakers, business leaders and others seeking to understand what is driving innovation in different economies.
According to GII 2026 estimates, global R&D expenditure grew by more than 3.3% in 2025 in real terms and it will expand by 3.6% in 2026 to $3.4 trillion. This growth in R&D spending is increasingly found in middle-income economies such as Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia and Viet Nam. Corporate R&D grew at 5.8% in real terms in 2025 to $1.5 trillion, the highest on record, driven by software and AI companies as well as defense-related R&D.
The value of venture capital (VC) funding behind new innovative startups and business ideas grew 28% to $510 billion in 2025 - the strongest annual gain since 2021. But investment is increasingly concentrated, with AI accounting for 53% of global VC deal value (and 77% in the first half of 2026) even as the number of VC deals fell for a fourth consecutive year. VC activity is nonetheless spreading geographically: African startups raised about $3.2 billion in 2025, up 40% year-on-year.
At the same time, a new generation of deep-science startups is turning frontier research into new industries. A special thematic chapter in the GII 2026 mapped around 30,000 startups active across semiconductors, robotics, quantum computing, life sciences, space and advanced materials, with particularly strong growth in Central and Southern Asia, Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa.
"AI is opening new technological frontiers across all fields in science, while government and corporate research investments reached all-time highs in 2025. Our 2026 GII report shows that a new generation of deep-science startups is translating breakthroughs into products and transforming fields such as life sciences, space, robotics and clean energy. With many rich insights and data, I hope that the GII will help countries create a vibrant national innovation ecosystem that supports the translation of ideas to market and impact, driving productivity, creating opportunity and helping to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges." — WIPO Director General Daren Tang.
Fact-Checked by Irfan Ahmad.
Read next:
• 1 Billion Meals Go Uneaten Every Day, Helping to Fuel Global Warming: Clean Your Plate to Reduce Food Loss and Waste
• How Press Restrictions, Direct-to-Audience Political Messaging and Independent Media Could Affect Journalism and Accountability
by External Contributor via Digital Information World
No comments:
Post a Comment