Main Findings on the World Intellectual Property Report 2026
Transcript
In a world of rapid technological progress, how technologies spread across countries has become a central issue for global development.
Innovation alone does not guarantee economic growth. For new technologies to fulfill their potential, they must be adopted and used effectively around the world.
The World Intellectual Property Report 2026’s Technology on the Move delivers a clear message on this: technology now spreads faster than ever—yet not evenly, and not automatically.And the way it diffuses—across countries, firms, and people—determines who benefits from innovation and shapes global economic development.
Done well, diffusion can help countries leapfrog development stages, accelerate productivity, and empower local innovation.
Over the past two and a half centuries, technological innovation has transformed human welfare. Technological progress has transformed living standards, driving more than a tenfold increase in global income and nearly doubling life expectancy in many countries. From instantaneous global communication to powerful digital tools like generative AI, technologies now enable capabilities that would have seemed unimaginable just a few decades ago.
Today, as we face pressures from climate change, food insecurity, and economic inequality, effective diffusion is a central development challenge.
Drawing on historical data for a wide range of technologies, the report offers two broad insights:
First, technologies are diffusing at unprecedented speed.
19th century innovations like the telegraph took four decades to reach the world, the telephone 25 years, while the internet took a mere 7 years.
Today, digital tools—like generative AI—reach nearly all countries within days once released online.
Second, after a long period of divergence, we are now seeing signs of convergence in how intensively technologies are used across countries.
For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, newer technologies were used far more intensively in advanced economies than elsewhere.
But for more recent technologies – including mobile broadband and wind power – that gap has started to narrow.
That is good news.
It suggests that today’s digital and clean technologies offer developing economies a real opportunity to catch up – and in some cases to leapfrog older technologies altogether.
However, innovation remains highly concentrated.
A handful of innovation leaders—the United States, Western Europe, Japan, and increasingly China— remain at the center of the global creation and absorption of knowledge.
They are not just inventing more; they are reusing and building on global breakthroughs faster and more intensively than others.
For example, the U.S. can reuse a breakthrough invention from India three times faster than India itself.
Technologies rooted in deep tech—biotech, AI, quantum—take on average 10 years for scientific insights to translate into patented applications.
And the countries able to source this science internationally are the same innovation leaders.
Even if technologies are spreading faster and more widely than before, important challenges remain.
In agriculture genetically modified crops can arrive quickly but don’t spread automatically. Countries still need local testing, adaptation to soils and pests, and clear regulatory approvals. In fact, average discovery to authorization is ~16.5 years, and even then, farm level uptake depends on price, inputs, advisory services and logistics.
Clean energy innovations—such as solar PV or direct reduced iron—often take decades to reach meaningful market share because they require new infrastructure, complementary regulatory frameworks, and long investment cycles.
And in digital technologies, the disparity in the quality and capability of available digital tools affects usage.
So what makes technology diffusion successful?
Across the report, four factors consistently determine diffusion outcomes.
1. Technology characteristics
Modular, low cost, infrastructure light technologies diffuse fastest. High capital, system dependent technologies diffuse slowly.
2. Information flows
Today's digital platforms—and increasingly AI—dramatically reduce the cost of learning, enabling rapid diffusion when other conditions are present.
3. Absorptive capacity
Education, skills, R&D institutions, and technical capabilities determine whether countries can adapt technologies, not just adopt them.
4. Public policy and IP systems
Regulation, interoperability standards, infrastructure investment, and well balanced IP frameworks shape both the speed and breadth of diffusion.
Even in a world where geography is no longer a binding constraint on knowledge flows, deliberate policy choices remain essential.
Countries that successfully accelerate diffusion recognize that different technologies require different policy approaches tailored to local contexts.
Through this report, WIPO seeks to support Member States in understanding these dynamics and in designing policies that translate technology diffusion into sustainable development and economic growth.
In a world of rapid technological progress, how technologies spread across countries has become a central issue for global development.
Innovation alone does not guarantee economic growth. For new technologies to fulfill their potential, they must be adopted and used effectively around the world.
The World Intellectual Property Report 2026’s Technology on the Move delivers a clear message on this: technology now spreads faster than ever—yet not evenly, and not automatically.And the way it diffuses—across countries, firms, and people—determines who benefits from innovation and shapes global economic development.
Done well, diffusion can help countries leapfrog development stages, accelerate productivity, and empower local innovation.
Over the past two and a half centuries, technological innovation has transformed human welfare. Technological progress has transformed living standards, driving more than a tenfold increase in global income and nearly doubling life expectancy in many countries. From instantaneous global communication to powerful digital tools like generative AI, technologies now enable capabilities that would have seemed unimaginable just a few decades ago.
Today, as we face pressures from climate change, food insecurity, and economic inequality, effective diffusion is a central development challenge.
Drawing on historical data for a wide range of technologies, the report offers two broad insights:
First, technologies are diffusing at unprecedented speed.
19th century innovations like the telegraph took four decades to reach the world, the telephone 25 years, while the internet took a mere 7 years.
Today, digital tools—like generative AI—reach nearly all countries within days once released online.
Second, after a long period of divergence, we are now seeing signs of convergence in how intensively technologies are used across countries.
For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, newer technologies were used far more intensively in advanced economies than elsewhere.
But for more recent technologies – including mobile broadband and wind power – that gap has started to narrow.
That is good news.
It suggests that today’s digital and clean technologies offer developing economies a real opportunity to catch up – and in some cases to leapfrog older technologies altogether.
However, innovation remains highly concentrated.
A handful of innovation leaders—the United States, Western Europe, Japan, and increasingly China— remain at the center of the global creation and absorption of knowledge.
They are not just inventing more; they are reusing and building on global breakthroughs faster and more intensively than others.
For example, the U.S. can reuse a breakthrough invention from India three times faster than India itself.
Technologies rooted in deep tech—biotech, AI, quantum—take on average 10 years for scientific insights to translate into patented applications.
And the countries able to source this science internationally are the same innovation leaders.
Even if technologies are spreading faster and more widely than before, important challenges remain.
In agriculture genetically modified crops can arrive quickly but don’t spread automatically. Countries still need local testing, adaptation to soils and pests, and clear regulatory approvals. In fact, average discovery to authorization is ~16.5 years, and even then, farm level uptake depends on price, inputs, advisory services and logistics.
Clean energy innovations—such as solar PV or direct reduced iron—often take decades to reach meaningful market share because they require new infrastructure, complementary regulatory frameworks, and long investment cycles.
And in digital technologies, the disparity in the quality and capability of available digital tools affects usage.
So what makes technology diffusion successful?
Across the report, four factors consistently determine diffusion outcomes.
1. Technology characteristics
Modular, low cost, infrastructure light technologies diffuse fastest. High capital, system dependent technologies diffuse slowly.
2. Information flows
Today's digital platforms—and increasingly AI—dramatically reduce the cost of learning, enabling rapid diffusion when other conditions are present.
3. Absorptive capacity
Education, skills, R&D institutions, and technical capabilities determine whether countries can adapt technologies, not just adopt them.
4. Public policy and IP systems
Regulation, interoperability standards, infrastructure investment, and well balanced IP frameworks shape both the speed and breadth of diffusion.
Even in a world where geography is no longer a binding constraint on knowledge flows, deliberate policy choices remain essential.
Countries that successfully accelerate diffusion recognize that different technologies require different policy approaches tailored to local contexts.
Through this report, WIPO seeks to support Member States in understanding these dynamics and in designing policies that translate technology diffusion into sustainable development and economic growth.
February 16, 2026