Pakistan advanced four places to 95th out of 139 economies in the 2026 Global Innovation Index, according to a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) report, and regained its classification as an innovation "overperformer."
The nation jumped from 99th in 2025, marking its fourth occasion as an overperformer, a label for economies that exceed expected innovation results given their development level. It previously held the tag in 2022 and 2024.
Pakistan Performs Better in Innovation Outputs
In the 2026 index, Pakistan outperformed its input score, ranking 72nd for outputs and 121st for inputs, with both positions better than the prior year.
"Innovation overperformance shows that innovation does not follow a straight line from income to results," the report noted, adding that nations can exceed expectations by leveraging focused strengths.
WIPO highlighted Pakistan's digital-economy assets, such as mobile app development, ICT services exports, high-tech imports and software spending. The agency also pointed to relatively strong scientific output and university quality as contributors to its growing digital sector.
The country placed 15th among 36 lower-middle-income economies and eighth among 11 Central and Southern Asian economies, though it did not rank among leaders in any single innovation pillar, including human capital, research, or infrastructure.
Pakistan's Innovation Ranking Improves Over Time
Over the last seven years, Pakistan's position in the GII has varied, the report shows.
It was 107th in 2020, rose to 99th in 2021, reached 87th in 2022, slipped to 88th in 2023, moved to 91st in 2024, fell back to 99th in 2025 and then improved to 95th in 2026.
Switzerland, Sweden and the United States kept the top three spots in 2026, with Switzerland staying first for the 16th year in a row.
WIPO said the upper rankings stayed mostly unchanged, with no new entrant breaking into the top 15 since 2025. Europe held 14 of the 25 leading innovation economies. The Netherlands rose to seventh place, while Austria moved to 18th.
Five Asian economies remained in the top 25: South Korea and Singapore at fourth and fifth, China at 10th, Japan at 12th, and Hong Kong, China at 14th.
The report described Asian representation among top innovators as a long-standing feature.
Global Innovation Progress Slows
WIPO's 2026 Innovation Tracker indicated that progress across the innovation cycle continued but at a slower pace. Most metrics improved, including scientific output, corporate R&D, battery costs and technology adoption, yet roughly three-quarters of indicators stayed below their ten-year averages.
Global research and development intensity hovered near a historic high of 2 percent of GDP.
The agency warned that the near-term economic climate grew tougher. World growth of about 3.4 percent in 2025 was projected to ease to roughly 3 percent in 2026, pressured by higher energy costs and uncertainty, before modestly rebounding in 2027.
Investment in artificial intelligence remained a major growth driver, with leading tech firms expected to spend over $1 trillion on AI infrastructure across 2025 and 2026.
WIPO cautioned that a downward revision of anticipated AI returns could tighten financing conditions beyond the tech sector, as investment increasingly depends on debt and private credit.
The report concluded that emerging economies, Pakistan included, could boost overall innovation performance by building on current strengths.
