Note: The World Bank classified Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) as an upper-middle income economy until 2021 and has been unclassified since then due to the unavailability of data.
Note: The World Bank classified Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) as an upper-middle income economy until 2021 and has been unclassified since then due to the unavailability of data.Key takeaways
1. In 2024, innovation investments largely positive – except for venture capital. Yet, innovation investment growth is at an historically low level
In 2024, innovation investments are largely positive – except for venture capital. Yet, innovation investment growth is at an historically low level. After the downturn of 2023, innovation investment showed signs of recovery in 2024 – but the recovery remains fragile; most innovation investments are below the long-term growth trend.
Notes: See the Data notes at the end of this section for a definition of the indicators and their data sources. Historic data may have been updated and might differ from last year's Global Innovation Tracker. Figures are rounded. Estimates or incomplete data are indicated by an asterisk (*). Short-term rates for Moore's Law and the cost of genome sequencing refer to the CAGR between 2022 and 2024.Below we note historical trends (2013-2024) highlighted in the Global Innovation Tracker as follows: ↑ Recent growth above the 10-year trend; ↗ Growth is continuing but below the historical trend; ↘ Declining levels.
↑ Overall picture more positive in 2024: Compared to previous GII editions, where results were more mixed, this year the picture appears more uniformly positive. Overall, only three indicators – venture capital (VC) deal counts, drug launches and global warming – overall are in decline in 2024.
↑ Scientific publications surge: Research output hit a record-breaking 2 million articles in 2024, driven by China's remarkable 14 percent growth and India's solid 7.6 percent increase. The global science engine is running strong.
↗ R&D grows – but at the slowest pace since 2010: Global R&D spending is projected to rise by 2.9 percent in 2024 – a slowdown from the 4.4 percent increase recorded in 2023 and the lowest rate since 2010. Public R&D showed a modest recovery, while business R&D outside of the United States and China grew only 1.4 percent, reflecting weak momentum in many high-income and middle-income economies.
↗ Corporate R&D at a record high, yet slowing sharply: Corporate R&D spending reached a record USD 1.3 trillion in 2024. However, growth in nominal terms slowed to 3.2 percent – or 1 percent in real terms – far below the 8 percent average for the past decade. The contrast is sectoral: ICT-related firms (particularly within AI-intensive sectors), and software and pharmaceutical firms expanded R&D budgets, whereas traditional manufacturing firms, such as the automotive sector and consumer goods, cut R&D spending, often in response to harshly reduced company revenues.
↘ Venture capital: still in a downturn – outside of AI and the United States: VC investment showed a deceptive rebound. Deal values rose 7.7 percent in 2024, largely driven by US-based megadeals and surging investment in generative AI. However, excluding these, VC activity would have contracted. Most tellingly, the number of VC deals fell 4.4 percent globally – a third consecutive year of decline – signaling persistent investor caution outside a narrow set of sectors and geographies. VC, which had been gradually expanding into a wider set of non-ICT sectors and emerging markets, now appears to be retreating back its traditional core – namely, the United States and AI- and ICT-related investments. This marks a missed opportunity to sustain the earlier momentum toward broader sectoral and geographical diversification.
↗ International patent filings stabilize – but growth is low: Following a rare decline in 2023, patent filings increased slightly by 0.5 percent in 2024. Growth remains fragile, with wide disparities across countries and regions, and filing growth soft.
In sum, only scientific publications are truly thriving. Most innovation investments show positive but below-trend growth, while VC deal numbers are in decline.
2. Technology has advanced rapidly, while adoption slowed
Technology advanced on almost every front in 2024, with only novel drug development moving backward. Supercomputing efficiency and battery prices led the charge with impressive gains, though progress in wind power and genome sequencing could not match the dramatic improvements of the past decade.
↑ Supercomputing leaps forward: Green supercomputer efficiency soared over 60 percent, showcasing the relentless march of computational power and energy efficiency.
↑ Battery revolution accelerates: Battery prices plummeted 20 percent, accelerating the clean energy transition and making electric vehicles more accessible.
↑ Moore's Law defies doubters: Transistor counts grew 37 percent, staying remarkably close to the decade-long trend that many predicted would falter.
↗ Solar power dominance: Solar power costs have dropped 90 percent since 2010, making it now 56 percent cheaper than fossil fuels, with renewable energy costs continuing on a downward trajectory.
↗ Genomics advances: Genome sequencing costs continue to fall, opening new possibilities for personalized medicine and biological research.
↘ Drug development challenges: Drug approvals declined 19 percent, reflecting the innate complexity of pharmaceutical innovation, despite technological advances.
In sum, technological progress remains robust across all fields, with the exception of drug approvals, and is particularly strong in computing and energy technology.
While technology adoption expanded across all indicators in 2024, every single metric fell short of its long-term growth trend – a clear signal that adoption momentum is decelerating, despite continued technological progress.
↗ Electric vehicle expansion: Global Electric Vehicle (EV) stock grew by 18 million units (+45 percent), but growth is notably decelerating in key markets, with China and emerging economies increasingly driving adoption.
↗ 5G reaches half the world: 5G now covers half the world's population, yet expansion has slowed and access remains starkly unequal between regions.
↗ Industrial progress: Robots have gained important ground in the last few years, while high-speed rail has gained ground, but only modestly, led largely by China; and – both – at rates below historical trends from 2023 to 2024.
↗ Health and infrastructure: Progress continues in safe sanitation and cancer therapy technologies, but faces persistent infrastructure gaps in lower-income economies.
In sum, technology adoption is broad-based, but showing clear signs of slowing momentum. High costs, regional disparities, and market maturation are creating headwinds even as the underlying technologies continue to improve rapidly. At the same time, for relatively new technologies, it is only natural that growth diminishes over time and after initial rapid expansion: as the base grows, percentage increases fall (thus explaining the growth below the historical trend). But this is not necessarily the full story: take the example of electric vehicles; the slowdown comes way before even medium levels of penetration are attained; other inhibitors – such as the removal of subsidies, a change in attitudes, etc. – are at stake.
3. Socioeconomic impact of innovation is once again largely positive
Innovation is delivering tangible improvements in human welfare and economic performance, with the recovery from COVID-19 disruption firmly on track. The overall impact story is positive despite some environmental concerns.
↑ Productivity surge: Labor productivity rose 2.5 percent in 2024, exceeding its 10-year trend.
↑ Life expectancy increases: Global life expectancy continues its upward trajectory to reach 73 years, with solid recovery from the COVID-19 shock demonstrating the resilience of health systems and medical innovation.
↗ Poverty reduction continues: Extreme poverty fell to 817 million people in 2024, less than half the total in 2004, representing sustained progress in one of humanity's greatest challenges.
↘ Global heating continues: Global temperatures set a new record in 2024 and are on track to break that record once again in 2025, though CO2 emissions are starting to decline among major emitters like the United States and the European Union.
The socioeconomic impact of innovation remains largely positive, with strong gains in productivity, health outcomes, and poverty reduction. While climate challenges persist, the overall trajectory shows innovation delivering meaningful benefits to human welfare.
In conclusion, we are seeing record-breaking research output and technological breakthroughs, yet investment patterns suggest increasing caution and selectivity. The path forward requires navigating this new reality – maintaining the momentum of scientific discovery while addressing the uneven distribution of benefits and the urgent environmental challenges that innovation must help solve.
4. Switzerland, Sweden, the United States of America, the Republic of Korea, and Singapore are the top-ranked economies; China joins the top 10
Switzerland (1st), Sweden (2nd) and the United States (3rd) remain the top innovation economies in 2025. The Republic of Korea (4th) reaches its highest rank ever. Singapore (5th) rounds out the top five, leading globally in 10 innovation indicators. These top performers share common strengths: high R&D intensity, world-class institutions, a strong educational system and a strongly innovative private sector.
China enters the top 10 for the first time (ranking 10th). It overtakes Switzerland in Knowledge and technology outputs, ranks 2nd in R&D expenditure, and leads in patent filings. Independently, it also hosts some of the top innovation clusters globally.
Among other high performers that have improved their innovation ranking are Japan (12th) – its best result since 2011 – along with Israel (14th), and Hong Kong, China (15th).
5. A wave of middle-income economies – led by India, Türkiye, Viet Nam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Morocco, Albania, and the Islamic Republic of Iran – continue their climb since 2013, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Brazil, Mauritius, Bahrain and Jordan show gains since 2019
China (10th), India (38th), Türkiye (43rd), Viet Nam (44th), the Philippines (50th), Indonesia (55th), Morocco (57th), Albania (67th) and the Islamic Republic of Iran (70th) are the middle-income economies within the GII top 70 which have climbed fastest in the ranking since 2013.
The Philippines climbs to 50th, and into the top 50; it ranks 1st in high-tech exports.
Morocco (57th) posts its best result ever, rising nine places, thanks to strong industrial designs, education investment, and intangible asset development.
Since 2019, Saudi Arabia (46th), Qatar (48th), Brazil (52nd), Mauritius (53rd), Bahrain (62nd) and Jordan (65th) have been the fastest innovation climbers.
A growing number of other middle- and low-income economies are steadily improving, thanks to focused investments into education, digital infrastructure, and business sophistication. Among them:
Tunisia (76th) and Uzbekistan (79th) continue on an upward trend, with the latter recognized as an overperformer for a fourth year in a row.
Senegal (89th), Rwanda (104th) and newcomer Malawi (125th) show growing innovation capacity, especially in business sophistication, and knowledge absorption.
6. Singapore, the United States, Israel and Hong Kong, China, lead the world in specific innovation fields
Singapore leads globally in the number of GII indicators ranked 1st – 10 out of 78 – including High-tech manufacturing, Unicorn valuation, and GitHub commits.
The United States ranks 1st on nine indicators, notably in Late-stage VC deals, Software spending, and Intangible asset intensity.
Israel and Hong Kong, China, both rank 1st globally in seven indicators, Israel tops in VC received, while Hong Kong, China, leads in FDI inflows.
Among upper and lower middle-income economies, Namibia (91st) tops Education expenditure, Nigeria (105th) ranks 1st in Unicorn valuation, and Malaysia leads in Graduates in science and engineering.
Cambodia (100th) and Nepal (107th) remain leaders in Loans from microfinance penetration, while the Philippines and Viet Nam (44th) continue to excel in High-tech exports.
7. Regional leaders are Switzerland, the United States, Chile, India, the Republic of Korea, Israel and Mauritius; Switzerland, China, India and Rwanda lead their respective income groups
In Europe, Switzerland, Sweden and the United Kingdom top the rankings.
In Eastern Europe and the Baltics, Estonia (16th), Lithuania (33th) and Latvia (41st) showcase the power of digital readiness, education and having a vibrant startup ecosystem.
In Northern America, the United States (3rd) leads, followed by Canada (17th).
South East Asia, East Asia, and Oceania is led by the Republic of Korea (4th), Singapore (5th) and China (10th), with Japan (12th), Hong Kong, China (15th), and Australia (22nd) close behind.
India (38th) leads Central and Southern Asia, ahead of the Islamic Republic of Iran (70th) and Uzbekistan (79th). For the first time, this region surpasses Latin America and the Caribbean in the regional rankings, driven by strong innovation outputs from India, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan (81st).
In Northern Africa and Western Asia, Israel (14th) leads, followed by Cyprus (25th), the United Arab Emirates (30th), Türkiye (43rd) and Saudi Arabia (46th). Morocco (57th) achieves its highest-ever rank.
Innovation is advancing across the Middle East, with Bahrain (62nd), Jordan (65th) and Oman (69th) among this year's fastest climbers, benefitting from better infrastructure, growing R&D and improving linkages between business and academia.
Chile (51st) leads Latin America and the Caribbean, followed by Brazil (52nd) and Mexico (58th).
Mauritius (53rd) leads Sub-Saharan Africa, ahead of South Africa (61st), Seychelles (75th), Botswana (87th) and Senegal (89th).
By income group, China (10th) leads upper middle-income economies, India (38th) the lower middle-income group and Rwanda (104th) the low-income group.
8. Seventeen middle- and low-income economies are innovation overperformers
India and Viet Nam remain the longest-standing overperformers, performing above expectation for their level of development for the 15th year, with Rwanda and Ukraine close behind.
Brazil, Indonesia, Morocco, South Africa, Uzbekistan and Senegal maintain their overperformer status, joined in 2025 by Tunisia and Malawi.
Overperformers are found in all regions, with the highest number in Sub-Saharan Africa, followed by South East Asia, East Asia and Oceania and Northern Africa and Western Asia.
In contrast, 38 economies underperform in 2025 relative to their level of development, with most located in Latin America and the Caribbean.
9. The world's top innovation clusters span six out of seven continents, with Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou leading globally
This year's top GII 100 innovation cluster ranking methodology incorporates venture capital (VC) deal data as a third metric alongside patent filings and scientific publications, better capturing entrepreneurial activity and innovation finance.
Following this new approach, Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou (China and Hong Kong, China) tops the global rankings, followed by Tokyo–Yokohama (Japan), San Jose–San Francisco (United States), Beijing (China) and Seoul (Republic of Korea). New York City, London and Los Angeles now join the top 10, propelled by the inclusion of VC as a new variable and their performance in this metric.
Note: Circles with numbers show cluster ranks.China, for a third consecutive year, leads with the most clusters (24) within the top 100. The United States follows closely with 22 clusters, then Germany with seven, and India and the United Kingdom with four each.
São Paulo (Brazil); Cairo (Egypt), the sole top 100 innovation cluster within Africa; Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai (India); Tehran (Islamic Republic of Iran); Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and its cross-border cluster shared with Singapore; Istanbul (Türkiye); and newcomer Mexico City (Mexico) are the middle-income economy clusters outside of China that are within the top 100. Three of India's four clusters achieved remarkable advances relative to last year's cluster ranking also benefiting from the inclusion of VC activity into the mix: Bengaluru rose to 21st, Delhi to 26th, and Mumbai to 46th position.
The top 100 innovation clusters demonstrate strong concentration, collectively accounting for roughly 70 percent of global PCT filings and VC deal activity, and about half of all scientific publications. The leading 10 clusters alone generate around 40 percent of PCT filings and 35 percent of VC deal activity.
Ten clusters entered the top 100 for the first time, including three in the United States (Miami; Phoenix; Salt Lake City), two in China (Ningbo; Ningde); three economies are represented in the top 100 for the first time owing to the inclusion of the following innovation clusters: Dublin (Ireland), Mexico City (Mexico) and Oslo (Norway).
10. San Jose–San Francisco is the most innovation-intensive cluster worldwide
San Jose-San Francisco (United States) and Cambridge (United Kingdom) are the two most innovation-intensive clusters relative to population density. Boston-Cambridge (United States), Ningde (China) and Oxford (United Kingdom) follow.
Ningde's remarkable rise to fourth place globally is driven by Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL), a global leader in energy technologies.
Helsinki (Finland) ranks ninth as the highest-ranking European Union cluster by intensity.