UAE rises five spots in WIPO index, tops four global innovation indicators.
Dubai: The UAE has joined the world’s 25 most innovative economies for the first time, moving up five positions in the 2026 Global Innovation Index as continued investment in technology, research and entrepreneurship strengthens its standing in the global knowledge economy.
The country ranked 25th out of 139 economies in the latest index published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), improving from 30th place in 2025.
The UAE also secured the top global position in four indicators: entrepreneurship policies and culture, the ability to attract international students, financing for start-ups and scale-ups, and new investment in research and development and advanced technologies.
Published annually, the Global Innovation Index evaluates innovation performance across 139 economies. The 2026 edition places particular emphasis on creating the right conditions for entrepreneurs in advanced science and technology to transform scientific breakthroughs into scalable businesses capable of generating wider economic benefits.
Key areas covered include artificial intelligence, biotechnology, advanced materials, semiconductors and clean energy.
The index also examines how innovation ecosystems are adapting to changes in the global economy, including uneven economic growth and challenges affecting venture capital markets.
Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy and Tourism, said the UAE had made notable progress in developing a business environment that supports innovation and enhances the competitiveness of the national economy.
He said the country’s five-place rise in the rankings reflected the strength of its institutional, human and technological capabilities, as well as its sustained investment in knowledge, research and advanced technology.
According to Al Marri, the improvement also highlights the UAE’s ability to turn investment and innovation capabilities into measurable economic and knowledge-based results. He said this supports the country’s ambition to establish itself as a global hub for the new economy and innovation-led industries under the We the UAE 2031 vision.
Brand value, technology exports rise
The UAE also recorded strong performances across several indicators covering creative output, technology and the international spread of knowledge.
The country ranked sixth globally for the value of its brands represented among the world’s 5,000 largest brands. It also placed seventh for mobile application creation, ninth for creative goods exports, 13th for high-tech exports and 19th for intellectual property receipts as a share of total trade.
The combined value of UAE brands included among the world’s top 5,000 reached approximately $101.66 billion in 2026, representing a 15 per cent increase compared with 2025.
Mobile applications developed by UAE-based companies and developers recorded around 2.91 billion downloads worldwide in 2025, an increase of 9.81 per cent from the previous year.
Meanwhile, the value of the UAE’s high-tech exports climbed to approximately $68.05 billion in 2024, marking a 36.35 per cent increase year on year.
UAE ranks 12th for innovation inputs
The UAE secured a place among the world’s top eight economies across six innovation subcategories, highlighting strong performances in education, infrastructure, technology and access to finance.
The country ranked first globally in higher education and second for its business environment. It also placed fifth in both general infrastructure and knowledge absorption, seventh in information and communications technology (ICT), and eighth in credit.
The UAE improved its overall innovation-input ranking to 12th globally, up from 14th place in 2025. Its ranking for innovation outputs also rose by five positions.
Across the Global Innovation Index’s seven main pillars, the UAE ranked ninth for institutions, 13th for both human capital and research and infrastructure, 14th for market sophistication, and 25th for business sophistication.
In terms of innovation results, the country ranked 47th globally for knowledge and technology outputs and 36th for creative outputs.
The UAE outperformed the average for high-income economies across five key pillars: institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication and business sophistication.
The country also performed above the regional average across all seven pillars measured by the Global Innovation Index, reflecting its broad-based performance across the innovation ecosystem.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialised agency of the United Nations, publishes the Global Innovation Index each year. The index evaluates economies using a wide range of indicators that measure both the resources and conditions supporting innovation, as well as the resulting innovation outputs.
