The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released its 2026 Global Innovation Index (GII) report in Geneva, Switzerland, on September 29.
Vietnam ranked 43rd out of 139 countries and economies, up one place from 2025 and in line with the target set by the government under Resolution 02/NQ-CP for 2026.
The 2025 GII rankings (Photo: Screenshot from video).
Over the past decade, Vietnam's GII ranking has improved by 16 places, from 59th in 2016 to 43rd in 2026.
Vietnam remains the second-highest-ranked lower-middle-income economy, behind India in 38th place. Among the economies ranked above Vietnam, China is 10th and Malaysia 34th, both in the upper-middle-income group, while the others are high-income economies.
The GII is published annually by WIPO to assess economies' innovation capabilities and outputs across areas including institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication, business sophistication, knowledge and technology outputs, and creative outputs.
Innovation outputs climb two places
A key highlight of this year's results is Vietnam's innovation output ranking, which rose from 37th to 35th. Within this category, knowledge and technology outputs climbed four places, from 39th to 35th.
WIPO's data show that Vietnam's output performance is considerably stronger than its input ranking: the country ranks 35th for innovation outputs compared with 54th for inputs.
Science and Technology Minister Vu Hai Quan said the two-place rise in innovation outputs was a notable result, indicating that policies and resources devoted to the sector were beginning to deliver results.
According to the minister, the improvement reflected the vigorous implementation of Resolution 57 over the past year. Investment in science, technology, innovation and digital transformation has increased significantly, while the policy and legal framework has gradually been strengthened.
Greater participation by the government, businesses, research institutes and universities has also helped lay the foundations for an innovation ecosystem in Vietnam.
Two indicators rank first globally
In 2026, Vietnam retained its global lead in two indicators: high-tech exports as a share of total trade and creative-goods exports as a share of total trade.
Three other indicators placed Vietnam among the world's top 10: high-tech imports, ranked third; mobile app creation, fifth; and labour productivity growth, sixth.
Vietnam also performed strongly in business-financed research and development, ranked 13th; domestic credit to the private sector, 14th; the weighted average tariff rate, 15th; and gross capital formation and domestic industry diversification, both 19th.
A firefighting robot model made in Vietnam (Photo: Manh Quan).
Several input indicators also improved significantly. Access to information and communication technology rose 11 places to 66th. Finance for startups and scale-ups climbed six places to 44th, while late-stage venture capital deals rose two places to 40th.
University-industry research collaboration improved seven places to 24th, while the number of researchers employed by businesses rose two places to 49th.
Among output indicators, patent applications by country of origin rose three places to 63rd. High-tech manufacturing output climbed one place to 25th, while production and export complexity rose eight places to 44th.
Global brand value improved one place to 28th, while industrial design applications rose three places to 48th.