The UAE entered the top 25 of the Global Innovation Index for the first time, climbing five places to 25th among 139 economies, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization. The index, released on September 29, ranks countries on about 80 indicators, from research spending to venture capital and high-tech trade.
The jump keeps the UAE ahead of every other Gulf economy: Saudi Arabia ranked 42nd, Qatar 47th, Kuwait 62nd, Bahrain 64th and Oman 69th. Kuwait’s 11-place gain was among the region’s largest.
Underneath the headline rank, the report shows an economy strong on inputs but weaker at converting them into results: 12th globally on inputs, only 42nd on outputs. WIPO puts the UAE in the high-input, low-output quadrant, with the next stage being to turn institutional and infrastructure foundations into scalable results.
Where the UAE leads is in attracting foreign innovation investment: first in the world on the index’s new greenfield R&D and high-tech FDI indicator, 20th in FDI inflows, 41st in patent families and 48th in high-tech manufacturing.
WIPO attributed the Gulf’s broader climb to digital government, ICT adoption, infrastructure, higher education, talent attraction and startup finance, calling the UAE furthest along in translating these foundations into broader innovation activity.
The input-output gap frames how the next few years will be judged. Riyadh entered WIPO’s global top 100 innovation clusters this year; the UAE has none, despite leading on capital attraction. The 2027 index will show whether that capital translates into more patents, high-tech exports and domestic clusters, or whether the Gulf’s gains remain concentrated in imported investment and institutional strength.
Switzerland, Sweden and the United States again led the ranking. WIPO has published the index annually since 2007.
Featured illustration is an AI-generated editorial image, not a photograph.
