International patent applications filed through WIPO's Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) rose 0.7% in 2025 to reach 275,900 filings worldwide, marking a second consecutive year of growth. The increase was partly due to robust activity in ICT related fields, with digital communication remaining as the top category (11.1%) of published PCT applications, while semiconductors recorded one of the fastest growth rates among all leading areas of international patents.
New technologies are spreading across borders at unprecedented pace and gaps are narrowing in how intensively countries are using the innovations, the latest World Intellectual Property Report (WIPR) 2026, Technology on the Move finds.
The Coordination Committee of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has nominated Mr. Daren Tang from Singapore for a second six year term to the post of Director General.
Global awareness and trust in intellectual property (IP) systems has reached new heights globally, according to WIPO Pulse 2025, the world's most comprehensive survey of IP perception and awareness.
Innovators and designers filed record-setting levels of applications for the intellectual property rights that protect their work in 2024, while demand for the trademarks that promote brands stabilized, according to WIPO’s World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) report.
The World Intellectual Property Organization today marked the 100th anniversary of its international design system, celebrating a century of iconic designs that combine utility and beauty.
The Government of Brazil has made a voluntary contribution of BRL1,500,000 (approx. 244,000 Swiss Francs) for WIPO-administered capacity building activities to support the growth of IP use by innovators and creators use across Latin America, the Caribbean and Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa.
Switzerland, Sweden, the United States of America (US), the Republic of Korea and Singapore top the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Global Innovation Index (GII) 2025 ranking, followed by the United Kingdom, Finland, Netherlands, Denmark and China, which breaks into the top 10 for the first time. Meantime, slowing growth in innovation investments is darkening the innovation forecast, the report found.
The addition of venture capital (VC) deal activity as a new metric in this year's WIPO Global Innovation Index (GII) Cluster study has reshaped the ranking with Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou overtaking Tokyo-Yokohama to claim the top spot and San Jose-San Francisco moving up three places to third position.
Ten SMEs and startups are the winners of this year’s WIPO Global Awards, with products including antibody therapeutics, sign-to-speech gloves, next-generation memory chips and sustainable protein fermentation—breakthroughs that reflect the transformative power of intellectual property (IP) in improving lives, advancing technology, and building more sustainable communities.