Published on September 16, the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2025 ranks the innovation performance of nearly 140 countries and economies. Themed “Innovation at a Crossroads: Charting the Future,” this year’s edition takes the pulse of innovation against a background of global realignments, sluggish economic growth of the leading multinationals, but also technological breakthroughs, and evolving regulatory landscapes which shape how ideas emerge, spread, and scale globally.
Held at WIPO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the global launch event brought together heads of state, policymakers, business leaders, and academics to reflect on the state of innovation worldwide. Below are key findings and insights from the event.
Innovation as a Necessity
WIPO Director General Daren Tang opened the global GII launch by highlighting both the promise and the challenges of today’s innovation landscape: “On the one hand, technological breakthroughs are accelerating: advances in AI, green energy, and digital biology are opening new frontiers. On the other, innovation is facing headwinds: global realignments, sluggish growth, and regulatory uncertainty are weighing on investment and diffusion”.
Heads of State, Prime Ministers and Ministers from Namibia, Panama, Belgium, Mauritius, and Uzbekistan also addressed the audience, sharing their countries’ journeys towards becoming innovation-driven societies. They delved into the pivotal role of the GII as a trusted instrument for shaping innovative policies, while also shedding light on the pressing contemporary challenges at the forefront of their innovation agendas.
We are working to build an ecosystem where ideas can flourish, industries can grow, and innovation becomes a driver of national, social economic transformation. This progress reflects the efforts of our researchers, entrepreneurs, policy makers, and innovators who are laying the foundation for a vibrant and inclusive knowledge economy.
H.E. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, President, Republic of Namibia
The social impact of [the GII] is enormous, because it provides us with the path to design a strategy to universalize opportunities through human talent.
H.E. Mr. José Raúl Mulino, President, Republic of Panama
Belgium stands firmly on the side of innovation and of all those who contribute to it: researchers, entrepreneurs and investors. Because innovation is not just a policy choice, it is the cornerstone of our future prosperity”.
H.E. Mr. Bart De Wever, Prime Minister, Kingdom of Belgium
“This year's theme, ‘Innovation at a Crossroads: Charting the Future’, resonates deeply with us. As a Small Island Developing State, Mauritius has closely monitored its trajectory in this annual ranking.
H.E. Dhananjay Ramful, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, Republic of Mauritius
Looking ahead, our goals is to build a knowledge and innovation based economy by supporting young people, encouraging cooperation between universities and industry, and harmonizing our IP system with international standards.
H.E. Mr. Akbar Djurabayevich Tashkulov, Minister of Justice, Republic of Uzbekistan
Key Findings from GII 2025
Key findings from the report were presented by the authors in a Q&A session led by Marco Alemán, Assistant Director General.
Switzerland, Sweden, the United States of America (US), the Republic of Korea and Singapore top the 2025 ranking, followed by the United Kingdom, Finland, Netherlands, Denmark and China, which breaks into the top 10 for the first time.
The GII also shows that a group of middle-income economies, led by China, India (38th), Türkiye (43rd), Viet Nam (44th), the Philippines (50th), Indonesia (55th), Morocco (57th), continue their climb in the GII. Since the turn of the decade, Saudi Arabia (46th), Qatar (48th), Brazil (52nd), Mauritius (53rd), Bahrain (62nd), and Jordan (65th), have been the fastest innovation climbers.
In addition to innovation rankings, the 2025 edition shows an uneven performance in leading indicators of future innovative activity. R&D growth fell to 2.9% in 2024, a slowdown from the 4.4% increase in the year prior and the lowest growth since the financial crisis of 2010. Technology adoption advanced but slowed: Growth remained evident in robotics and connectivity; high-speed rail networks, a new indicator in 2025, expanded. In turn, robot and EV adoption experienced a marked slowdown.
Socioeconomic impact continues to improve, with global productivity growth rising to 2.4%, a promising change after years of stagnation.
Voices from the Panel: Innovation at a Crossroads
The launch concluded with a high-level panel discussion featuring leaders from academia, government, and industry, each offering a distinct perspective on where innovation is heading.
Mr. Sun Ming-Yen (Vice President and Chief Intellectual Property Officer, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL), China) stressed the transformative role of battery storage in enabling renewable energy. Looking ahead, he predicted breakthroughs: “Battery energy storage is updating from a single product innovation to a systematic transformation across fields and industries.”
Ms. Gift Kadzamira (Director General, National Commission for Science and Technology, Malawi) highlighted Africa’s innovation momentum, driven by hubs, incubators, and regional integration. She emphasized financing and research–industry collaboration as keys to scale: “Governments should establish dedicated innovation funds that link public resources with donor and private sector capital.”
Prof. Gaétan de Rassenfosse (Associate Professor, Science, Technology and Innovation Policy, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland) pointed to three policy megatrends shaping innovation: sovereignty, policy agility, and the AI paradox. He noted: “We see AI everywhere except in the productivity statistics, because adoption takes time and requires complementary assets like skills and infrastructure.”
John Cheek (Vice President, Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) and Vice-President, Intellectual Property, Tenneco LLC, USA) reflected on the pressures businesses face amid global uncertainty. He warned that while megatrends are driving innovation, unstable economic conditions are complicating investment choices: “I think the theme this year was great because we are truly at a crossroads. We see megatrends continuing to drive innovation as expected, but we now find ourselves in a period of perhaps less stable economic policy that’s creating challenges for innovation decisions.”
Together, the panel reinforced the idea that innovation is an ecosystem shaped by policies, finance, research institutions, and entrepreneurs, all interconnected across borders.
Looking Ahead
The GII 2025 confirms that innovation leadership is no longer static. The rise of China, India, and other middle-income economies shows that innovation is becoming more diverse and geographically distributed. Yet, the slowdown in R&D growth, the fragility of venture capital and other forms of innovation finance, and uneven technology adoption highlight the fragile balance at this crossroads. The challenge is clear: how to sustain innovation-led growth while ensuring that new technologies deliver productivity gains and inclusive prosperity.
New Tools and Accessibility
This edition is accompanied by an upgraded GII Innovation Ecosystems & Data Explorer 2025, a digital platform where policymakers and researchers can explore data interactively by country, region, or sector. The tool allows comparisons across regions and income groups, and provides detailed insights into top universities, R&D performers, unicorns, and science and technology clusters.
With more than 90 governments now using the GII to inform policy, the report has become not just an index, but a blueprint for national and regional innovation strategies.