A worker is producing ultra-miniature bearings at Nantong Shankou Kinetic Energy Technology Co., Ltd. in Nantong High-tech Zone, in Nantong, China, on August 14, 2024. (Photo by Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Since its inception in 2011, the Global Innovation Index by the World International Property Organization has been quite a stable affair. However, with the newest edition out this week, some significant changes came to the ranking. Notably, Germany existed the Top 10, while China for the first time scored in the upper 10 ranks. In the previous edition, Germany had ranked 8th, while China had come in as number 11.
In 2018, the midpoint of all editions published so far, Germany had still been the seventh highest-ranking nation. Despite continuing to lead Europe in research and development spending, funding in Germany decreased. The story is similar in the field of patent applications, where Germany continues to be a leading nation, but also saw applications fall by almost 3% between 2023 and 2024. During the same time period the increase in the number of electric car on the roads in the European nation was only 24%, down from a 34% gain between 2022 and 2023 (now standing at 6.5%).
This chart shows the Top 10 countries in the Global Innovation Index in 2011, 2018 and 2025.
Statista
In rank 11 in 2025, WIPO still rated Germany as a country where innovation output outperformed input, meaning that investments were efficiently used. The country also had the third-most innovation cluster, i.e. regions or metro areas, after the United States and China at seven.
China, on the other hand, continued to accelerate much of its innovation endeavors, from the publishing of academic articles growing by 14% between 2023 and 2024 to big advancements in robotics and electric car adoption. Even though China’s R&D funding only grew slightly in that same time frame, this is in contrast to other nations decreasing their investments in the sector. China is the second-biggest R&D spender in the world, according to the report and even overtook long-time leading nation Switzerland for the indicator Knowledge and Technology Outputs. The country has been leading patent filings globally.
Upper middle-income success
China was also lauded for its growth of high-speed rail networks, increased labor productivity and stable emissions, even though the latter indicator remains on a high level of 34% of the global total (compared to around 14% of the global population). Being the highest-ranked upper middle-income nation in the report, the country’s prowess is mirrored by other countries from the income bracket. India, Turkey, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Morocco, Albania and Iran were among the biggest climbers in the ranking, according to the report. One soft point for China was its score for institutions, only ranking 44th globally, in contrast to other Top 10 countries.
While Hong Kong dropped out of the ranking’s Top 10 in the 2010s, the index identified Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou as the world’s top ranked innovation cluster. By 2011, Hong Kong itself had still been ranked as the fourth most innovative place on Earth after Singapore, but then exited the Top 10. Together with South Korea, which entered the Top 10 ranks in 2020, there are now again three Asian countries in the top 10 after China’s addition.
European nations are, however, still in the majority in the top 10, which includes—after Switzerland—Sweden, Finland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Denmark. The United States is the only nation outside of Europe and Asia in the Top 10 after Canada left the ranking’s top 10 in 2012.
Charted by Statista