Key Takeaways
- • WIPO's Global Innovation Index 2026 Tracker reports that almost all innovation indicators across four stages are in positive territory, a broad-based improvement from the mixed picture in the GII 2022 and 2023 editions.
- • Corporate R&D among the world's largest spenders reached a record USD 1.5 trillion in 2025, up close to 8 percent nominal, with R&D intensity climbing to 6 percent of revenue, the highest share on record.
- • VC deal values rose 27.9 percent to USD 510 billion in 2025 while deal counts fell 1.4 percent, with AI accounting for about half of global VC value.
- • Global scientific publications hit a record 2.4 million articles in 2025, up 6.9 percent, with China accounting for 37 percent of the total.
- • Only about a quarter of indicators are not below their decade averages, and three indicators worsened: VC deal counts, renewable energy costs (rising for the first time since 2014), and global temperatures.
Summary
WIPO's Global Innovation Index (GII) 2026 Tracker says innovation in 2025 was dominated by artificial intelligence, which carried an unusually large share of global economic momentum. The world economy grew about 3.4 percent in 2025, and high-tech exports grew roughly 14 percent to a new high of almost USD 5 trillion, nearly three times faster than global trade, according to WIPO's accompanying analysis. Growth is expected to slow in 2026 before recovering modestly in 2027, and remains below its long-run average, per projections cited from the BIS, IMF and OECD.
The Tracker identifies two forces shaping the year. The first is concentration at the frontier: VC deal values rose 27.9 percent to USD 510 billion while deal counts fell 1.4 percent, and AI now accounts for about half of global VC value. Within corporate R&D, software and AI-intensive firms grew fastest. The top 10 spenders' share of total R&D rose from about 20 percent in 2015 to roughly 27 percent in 2025, though within-sector concentration generally fell. The second is diversification across the base, as innovation spread to middle-income economies. Egypt, Chile and Ethiopia raised scientific output, while Malaysia, Indonesia and Viet Nam sustained R&D growth.
Global R&D expenditure grew 4.7 percent in real terms in 2024, and global R&D intensity rose from 1.4 percent of GDP in 2000 to 1.97 percent in 2024, projected to hold near 2 percent through 2026. China's total R&D expenditure, at USD 860 billion in PPP-adjusted constant prices, edged ahead of the United States at USD 850 billion. Corporate R&D growth was led by software and ICT services, with 2025 spending more than five times its 2015 level, while aerospace and defense rose on renewed defense investment, from about USD 19.5 billion in 2021 to USD 26 billion in 2025.
Scientific output reached a record, with China recording a 15 percent increase and India expanding 4.4 percent, while US output edged down 0.3 percent. The Tracker notes that VC deal counts fell for a fourth year even as values reached their highest since 2021. The report also flags that renewable energy costs rose for the first time since 2014 and that global temperatures were the second highest on record.
The Tracker identifies two forces shaping the year. The first is concentration at the frontier: VC deal values rose 27.9 percent to USD 510 billion while deal counts fell 1.4 percent, and AI now accounts for about half of global VC value. Within corporate R&D, software and AI-intensive firms grew fastest. The top 10 spenders' share of total R&D rose from about 20 percent in 2015 to roughly 27 percent in 2025, though within-sector concentration generally fell. The second is diversification across the base, as innovation spread to middle-income economies. Egypt, Chile and Ethiopia raised scientific output, while Malaysia, Indonesia and Viet Nam sustained R&D growth.
Global R&D expenditure grew 4.7 percent in real terms in 2024, and global R&D intensity rose from 1.4 percent of GDP in 2000 to 1.97 percent in 2024, projected to hold near 2 percent through 2026. China's total R&D expenditure, at USD 860 billion in PPP-adjusted constant prices, edged ahead of the United States at USD 850 billion. Corporate R&D growth was led by software and ICT services, with 2025 spending more than five times its 2015 level, while aerospace and defense rose on renewed defense investment, from about USD 19.5 billion in 2021 to USD 26 billion in 2025.
Scientific output reached a record, with China recording a 15 percent increase and India expanding 4.4 percent, while US output edged down 0.3 percent. The Tracker notes that VC deal counts fell for a fourth year even as values reached their highest since 2021. The report also flags that renewable energy costs rose for the first time since 2014 and that global temperatures were the second highest on record.
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