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Journalism of Courage
Global Innovation Index 2025: Global innovation systems are undergoing a shift: while cutting-edge technologies in AI and quantum computing are advancing rapidly, R&D growth has slowed down.
According to the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s (WIPO) Global Innovation Index (GII) 2025, R&D growth fell to 2.9 per cent in 2024 and is projected to drop further to 2.3 per cent in 2025.
This marks a sharp decline from a 4.4 per cent increase the previous year, the lowest growth since the 2010 financial crisis.
Europe leads as the most innovative region, with 15 countries in the global top 25, including six in the top 10—led by Switzerland at #1, followed by Sweden at #2.
North America remains strong, led by the United States at #3 and Canada at #17.
Meanwhile, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Oceania (SEAO) continue to emerge as global innovation hubs, with six economies in the top 25.
Notably, China ranks #10 in the global top 10, overtaking Switzerland in knowledge and technology outputs, leading in patent filings, standing at #2 in R&D expenditure, and hosting several of the world’s top innovation clusters.
| Global Innovation Index (GII) 2025 | ||||
| GII Rank 2025 | Country | GII Score 2025 | Income Group Rank | Region Rank |
| 1 | Switzerland | 66 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Sweden | 62.6 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | United States | 61.7 | 3 | 1 |
| 4 | Republic of Korea | 60 | 4 | 1 |
| 5 | Singapore | 59.9 | 5 | 2 |
| 6 | United Kingdom | 59.1 | 6 | 3 |
| 7 | Finland | 57.7 | 7 | 4 |
| 8 | Netherlands (Kingdom of the) | 57 | 8 | 5 |
| 9 | Denmark | 56.9 | 9 | 6 |
| 10 | China | 56.6 | 1 | 3 |
Source and Methodology: Global Innovation Index 2025 by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). The index evaluates 139 economies on over 80 indicators that measure innovation inputs and outputs.
India performs best in Knowledge & Technology Outputs (#22) and Market Sophistication (#38), while its weakest rankings are in Business Sophistication (#64), Infrastructure (#61), and Institutions (#58).
Overall, India has made a steady climb from #48 in 2020 to #38 in 2025, and importantly, holds the #1 spot among lower-middle-income economies and in the Central and Southern Asia region.
