PH rises 6 notches to 50th in Global Innovation Index

The Philippines’ standing in the Global Innovation Index (GII) has improved over the last few years, a report from the World Intellectual Property Organization (Wipo) showed.

The country landed at the 50th spot among 139 economies evaluated in this year’s edition of the GII published by Wipo. The latter is a United Nations specialized agency that promotes the protection of intellectual property (IP) worldwide.

The country’s latest position is an improvement from 56th in 2023 and 53rd in the 2024 index. The report ranked global economies based on their innovation capabilities.

In terms of sub-indices, the Philippines settled at 59th in innovation inputs and 49th in innovation outputs in 2025. Both meant improvements from last year.

The Philippines ranked the third highest among the 37 lower middle-income group economies. It was also 11th among the 17 economies in Southeast Asia, East Asia and Oceania that the study covered.

“The GII shows the Philippines as a top innovative economy, climbing the rankings steadily … We examine where we stand today and where we are headed to make innovation a true driver of inclusive and sustainable growth,” Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (Ipophl) Director General Brigitte da Costa-Villaluz said in a statement on Wednesday.

Da Costa-Villaluz expressed optimism that the country will manage to sustain its strong performance. This is expected to be buoyed by new policies such as the establishment of a registry for well-known marks.

“This initiative is expected to give businesses stronger brand protection and greater opportunities for expansion in both local and global markets,” she added.

Based on the GII, the Philippines performed best in knowledge and technology outputs (38th) and business sophistication (40th).

However, it was among the lowest in institutions and creative outputs (both 61st), infrastructure (65th) and human capital and research (90th).

The report said the Philippines improved in eight indicators in the short term. International patent filings soaring 350 percent between 2023 and 2024.

Moreover, the report said that the country’s best-ranked innovation strengths are high-tech exports as a percentage of total trade (1st), high-tech imports (4th) and utility models by origin/billions of purchasing power parity (PPS) dollars (7th).

Da Costa-Villaluz said the Ipophl has implemented programs to widen IP awareness, deepen innovation capacity and empower the youth, creative and underserved sectors to maintain the country’s GII ranking.

This year’s report comprised about 80 indicators, grouped into innovation inputs and outputs “to capture the multidimensional facets of innovation.”

“It measures innovation based on criteria that include institutions, human capital and research infrastructure, credit, investment, linkages, the creation, absorption and diffusion of knowledge and creative outputs,” the report said.