The Global Innovation Index is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for and success in innovation, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It was started in 2007 by INSEAD and World Business, a British magazine. Until 2021, it was published by WIPO in partnership with Cornell University, INSEAD, and other organisations and institutions. It is based on both subjective and objective data derived from several sources, including the International Telecommunication Union, the World Bank, and the World Economic Forum.
History The Global Innovation Index was started in 2007 by INSEAD and World Business, a British magazine. It was created by Soumitra Dutta.
Methodology The Global Innovation Index is computed by taking a simple average of the scores in two sub-indices (the Innovation Input Index and Innovation Output Index), which are composed of respectively five and two pillars. Each of those pillars describes an attribute of innovation and have to five indicators, and their score is calculated by the weighted average method.
Since its inception in 2007, the index has had its results analyzed by an increasing number of governments annually, which design policy responses to improve their performance.In July 2021, the Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters, under the Japanese Prime Minister's Office, decided on the Intellectual Property Promotion Plan 2021, which set forth a plan of annual action related to intellectual property for all ministries and agencies. In the first part of the plan, WIPO's GII is cited (p. 5): https://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/titeki2/kettei/chizaikeikaku20210713.pdf The GII is also cited throughout the official Malaysian Government report, the Twelfth Malaysia Plan (RMK12): https://rmke12.epu.gov.my/en . The index is mentioned in a resolution on science, technology and innovation for sustainable development adopted on 19 December 2019 by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
Criticism Several scholars have criticized the index for giving excessive significance attributed to factors that are not integral to innovation. For instance, "Ease of Paying Taxes", "Electricity Output" (half-weightage), and "Ease of Protecting Minority Investors" are factors alongside "Ease of Getting Credit" and "Venture Capital Deals." A 2024 study by Sarcina, Paolantonio, Valentini, and Iannone argued that the analysis of the GII pillars is "too aggregated to provide the necessary visibility of the determinants of innovation performance." The research found that indicators within a single pillar "contribute with different weights and have different statistical significance." The authors suggested that the model for calculating the ranking should be redefined to not only consider the "most statistically representative variables" but also to include "geographical, demographic, and socio-economic factors," noting that the importance of various innovation determinants likely differs between countries at different stages of development.
Themes Every two years, the index covers a theme related to innovation that goes beyond the innovation rankings. In 2020, the theme was "Who will finance innovation?" and shed light on the state of innovation financing by investigating the evolution of existing mechanisms and by pointing to progress and remaining challenges. Previous themes covered topics such as health innovation, environmental innovation, and agricultural and food innovation.
2026 Ranking The 2026 ranking was released on September 29 as part of the report titled Global Innovation Index 2026: Powering Entrepreneurs at the Frontier of Science. The ranking covered 139 economies and used around 80 indicators. According to estimates for that year, global R&D expenditure grew by more than 3.3% in real terms in 2025, and the estimation for 2026 is that it will expand by 3.6% to $3.4 trillion. The 2026 ranking was led by Switzerland, Sweden, the United States, South Korea, and Singapore. + Global Innovation Index, 2026RankCountry and regionScoreIncome groupRegion1 66.7High-incomeEurope2 63.2High-incomeEurope3 62.3High-incomeNorthern America4 61.4High-incomeSouth East Asia, East Asia, and Oceania5 61.0High-incomeSouth East Asia, East Asia, and Oceania6 59.6High-incomeEurope7 58.4High-incomeEurope8 57.9High-incomeEurope9 57.7High-incomeEurope10 57.0Upper middle-incomeSouth East Asia, East Asia, and Oceania11 56.8High-incomeEurope12 54.1High-incomeSouth East Asia, East Asia, and Oceania13 54.0High-incomeEurope14 53.2High-incomeSouth East Asia, East Asia, and Oceania15 52.2High-incomeNorthern Africa and Western Asia16 51.1High-incomeNorthern America17 50.4High-incomeEurope18 50.2High-incomeEurope19 50.1High-incomeEurope20 49.6High-incomeSouth East Asia, East Asia, and Oceania21 48.5High-incomeEurope22 48.5High-incomeEurope23 46.6High-incomeEurope24 46.4High-incomeSouth East Asia, East Asia, and Oceania25 46.4 High-incomeNorthern Africa and Western Asia26 46.3 High-incomeEurope27 46.2High-incomeEurope28 45.4High-incomeEurope29 45.3High-incomeNorthern Africa and Western Asia30 44.5High-incomeEurope31 43.8High-incomeEurope32 43.2High-incomeEurope33 42.8High-incomeEurope34 41.8Upper middle-incomeSouth East Asia, East Asia, and Oceania35 41.1High-incomeEurope36 40.7High-incomeEurope37 40.3High-incomeEurope38 40.1Lower middle-incomeCentral and Southern Asia39 39.5High-incomeEurope40 38.3High-incomeEurope41 38.2High-incomeEurope42 37.9High-incomeNorthern Africa and Western Asia43 37.7Lower middle-incomeSouth East Asia, East Asia, and Oceania44 37.6Upper middle-incomeSouth East Asia, East Asia, and Oceania45 37.5Upper middle-incomeNorthern Africa and Western Asia46 36.9High-incomeEurope47 36.6High-incomeNorthern Africa and Western Asia48 36.5High-incomeEurope49 35.3High-incomeEurope50 34.1Upper middle-incomeSub-Saharan Africa51 33.8High-incomeLatin America and the Caribbean52 33.8Lower middle-incomeSouth East Asia, East Asia, and Oceania53 33.5Upper middle-incomeLatin America and the Caribbean54 32.8Lower middle-incomeNorthern Africa and Western Asia55 32.7Upper middle-incomeSouth East Asia, East Asia, and Oceania56 32.5Upper middle-incomeEurope57 32.2Upper middle-incomeNorthern Africa and Western Asia58 31.8High-incomeEurope59 31.6Upper middle-incomeNorthern Africa and Western Asia60 31.5Lower middle-incomeNorthern Africa and Western Asia61 31.2Upper middle-incomeEurope62 30.9High-incomeNorthern Africa and Western Asia63 30.9Upper middle-incomeSub-Saharan Africa64 30.8High-incomeNorthern Africa and Western Asia65 30.6Upper middle-incomeLatin America and the Caribbean66 30.5High-incomeLatin America and the Caribbean67 30.4Upper middle-incomeEurope68 30.3Upper middle-incomeEurope69 30.0High-incomeNorthern Africa and Western Asia70 29.8High-incomeLatin America and the Caribbean71 29.3Lower middle-incomeNorthern Africa and Western Asia72 29.1Upper middle-incomeSouth East Asia, East Asia, and Oceania73 29.1Upper middle-incomeCentral and Southern Asia74 28.9Lower middle-incomeCentral and Southern Asia75 28.8Upper middle-incomeLatin America and the Caribbean76 28.8Upper middle-incomeEurope77 28.7Lower middle-incomeCentral and Southern Asia78 28.6Upper middle-incomeLatin America and the Caribbean79 28.3Upper middle-incomeEurope80 27.9Upper middle-incomeLatin America and the Caribbean81 27.6Upper middle-incomeCentral and Southern Asia82 27.1Upper middle-incomeSub-Saharan Africa83 26.1Lower middle-incomeNorthern Africa and Western Asia84 26.1Upper middle-incomeEurope85 25.8Upper middle-incomeNorthern Africa and Western Asia86 25.6Lower middle-incomeNorthern Africa and Western Asia87 24.9Upper middle-incomeLatin America and the Caribbean88 24.5Upper middle-incomeEurope89 24.4High-incomeLatin America and the Caribbean90 24.4Lower middle-incomeSub-Saharan Africa91 24.2High-incomeLatin America and the Caribbean92 24.1Lower middle-incomeCentral and Southern Asia93 23.8Lower middle-incomeSouth East Asia, East Asia, and Oceania94 23.7Lower middle-incomeCentral and Southern Asia95 23.7Lower middle-incomeCentral and Southern Asia96 23.3Low-incomeSub-Saharan Africa97 23.0Lower middle-incomeSub-Saharan Africa98 23.0High-incomeSouth East Asia, East Asia, and Oceania99 22.9Upper middle-incomeLatin America and the Caribbean100 22.8Upper middle-incomeLatin America and the Caribbean101 22.6Lower middle-incomeSub-Saharan Africa102 22.5Lower middle-incomeSub-Saharan Africa103 22.4Upper middle-incomeSub-Saharan Africa104 22.3Lower middle-incomeCentral and Southern Asia105 21.5Lower middle-incomeCentral and Southern Asia106 21.3Upper middle-incomeLatin America and the Caribbean107 21.2High-incomeLatin America and the Caribbean108 21.2Lower middle-incomeSouth East Asia, East Asia, and Oceania109 21.1Upper middle-incomeLatin America and the Caribbean110 20.8Lower middle-incomeSub-Saharan Africa111 20.5Upper middle-incomeNorthern Africa and Western Asia112 20.3Lower middle-incomeCentral and Southern Asia113 20.2Low-incomeSub-Saharan Africa114 19.7Lower middle-incomeLatin America and the Caribbean115 19.5Lower middle-incomeSub-Saharan Africa116 19.2Lower middle-incomeLatin America and the Caribbean117 19.1Lower middle-incomeSub-Saharan Africa118 19.1Lower middle-incomeSub-Saharan Africa119 19.0Lower middle-incomeSub-Saharan Africa120 19.0Upper middle-incomeLatin America and the Caribbean121 18.9Lower middle-incomeSub-Saharan Africa122 18.7Low-incomeSub-Saharan Africa123 18.4Low-incomeSub-Saharan Africa124 18.0Lower middle-incomeLatin America and the Caribbean125 17.4Lower middle-incomeSouth East Asia, East Asia, and Oceania126 17.2Low-incomeSub-Saharan Africa127 16.7 -Latin America and the Caribbean128 16.5Lower middle-incomeSub-Saharan Africa129 16.1Low-incomeSub-Saharan Africa130 16.1Low-incomeSub-Saharan Africa131 16.1Lower middle-incomeSub-Saharan Africa132 16.1Lower middle-incomeSub-Saharan Africa133 15.7 -Sub-Saharan Africa134 15.2Low-incomeSub-Saharan Africa135 15.1Low-incomeSub-Saharan Africa136 13.0Lower middle-incomeSub-Saharan Africa137 12.6Low-incomeSub-Saharan Africa138 12.1Low-incomeSub-Saharan Africa139 9.5Low-incomeSub-Saharan Africa
2025 ranking
In 2025, for an economy to feature in the GII 2025, the minimum data coverage requirement is at least 35 indicators in the Innovation Input Sub-Index and 15 indicators in the Innovation Output Sub-Index, with scores for at least two sub-pillars per pillar. In the GII 2025, 139 economies had sufficient data available to be included in the Index. They represent 93.6 percent of the world's population. This year's conceptual framework includes 78 different indicators.
The Global Innovation Index 2025 scores 139 countries and regions.