This World Intellectual Property Report 2026 was developed under the general direction of Daren Tang (Director General) and Marco Alemán (Assistant Director General). The report was supervised by Carsten Fink (Chief Economist) and prepared by a team led by Julio Raffo (Head of Innovation Economy Section). The team included Intan Hamdan-Livramento (Senior Economist), Maryam Zehtabchi (Economist), María de las Mercedes Menéndez (Fellow), Maryam Abolhassani (Fellow) and Janete A. Rungo (Young Expert), all from WIPO’s Department for Economics and Data Analytics (DEDA), Innovation Economy Section (IES).
The report drew on various commissioned background papers:
Chapter 1: Carsten Fink, Maria de las Mercedes Menéndez, and Julio Raffo provided the background research on "How do New Technologies Diffuse?" drew on the prior work by Diego Comin (Harvard University).
Chapter 2: Catalina Martinez (IPP-CSIC), Ernest Miguelez (University of Barcelona), Michele Pezzoni (University Côte d'Azur), Reinhilde Veugelers (KU Leuven), and Fabiana Visentin (UNU MERIT) provided the background research on “The Changing Geography of International Knowledge Diffusion."
Chapter 3: Jose Falck-Zepeda (IFPRI) provided background research on “Understanding and Characterizing the Diffusion of Agricultural Technology," and Charles de Grazia (École de Management Léonard De Vince), Nicholas Rada (USPTO) and Gregory Graff (Colorado State University) provided background research on “Diffusion of Genetically Modified Crop Technology.”
Chapter 4: Eugenie Dugoua (London School of Economics), and Joëlle Noailly (Geneva Graduate Institute) provided the background research on “Diffusion of Clean Technologies: Patterns, Mechanisms, and Future Challenges."
Chapter 5: Joël Cariolle (University Clermont-Auvergne CERDI-CNRS-IRD) provided background research on “Digital Transformation in Developing Economies: From the First-Mile Infrastructure to the End-User Finger Tips.”
The report team benefited greatly from external reviews and comments. Carolina Castaldi (Utrecht University) provided comments and feedback on all the report chapters. In addition, reviews of the background papers were provided by Jenny Aker (Tufts University), Debisi Araba (Imperial College London), Diego Comin (Harvard University), Keith Fuglie (Food Security Leadership Council), Andrea Morrison (University of Pavia), and Stephane Lhuillery (NEOMA Business School).
Several experts provided valuable inputs and comments in the preparation of the report, including Aida Dolotbaeva (WIPO), Nina Belbl (WIPO), Christopher Harrison (WIPO), Eduardo Hernandez Rodríguez (Utretch University), Allison Mages (WIPO), Michael Mbogoro (WIPO), Federico Moscatelli (WIPO), Daniel Pradilla (WIPO), Leontino Rexende Taveira (UPOV), Clement Sternberger (WIPO), Steve Thom (WIPO), and Purevdorj Vaanchig (WIPO).
Samiah Do Carmo Figueiredo, Jovana Stojanović and Mary Osuchukwu provided valuable administrative support.
Special thanks go to a group of colleagues across WIPO who volunteered their experience and valuable advice for which the report benefitted greatly. The group included Guilherme Appolinario, Charlotte Beauchamp, Laurent Bergeron, María De Icaza, Marie Gendron, Vanessa Harwood, Edward Harris, Noah Miller, Jean-Christophe Riviere, Virginie Roux, Samar Shamoon, Fabio Weissert, Lucy Williams and Tina Youssef.
Finally, gratitude is due to editorial and design colleagues in the Publications and Design Section for leading the production of the report. The WIPO Knowledge Center provided helpful research support throughout the report’s development and the Printing Plant provided high-quality printing services.