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Global Innovation Index: Germany remains in 11th place

Latest innovation study by the World Intellectual Property Organization: Germany ranks among the global leaders in science and research, but lags far behind in fostering entrepreneurship – DPMA President: Germany’s excellent research base needs to be turned into protected innovations and, ultimately, attractive products and business models

Press release of 29 September 2026

Munich/Geneva. Germany remains in 11th place in the country ranking of the WIPO Global Innovation Index. In its major innovation study published today, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) continues to describe Germany as having a robust and comparatively efficient innovation system. However, the country performs significantly less well than most of the leading economies on several indicators that are important for future economic development.

“Despite all the economic challenges, we still have a strong and highly efficient innovation system,” says Eva Schewior, President of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA). “We are strong in research and development, giving us an excellent foundation for economic success. But we need to get better at turning research results into protected innovations and, ultimately, into attractive products and business models – particularly when it comes to applying digital technologies. To achieve this, we need the best possible framework conditions and the necessary support from society.”

Germany ranks one place higher than last year on the input factors, coming in at 14th, while it retains 8th place for output factors. This points to an efficient innovation system, as Germany continues to achieve a higher level of output than its resource inputs would suggest.

Germany continues to rank among the leaders in the “Human Capital and Research” category, receiving a significantly higher score than the average for the top 10 countries. Scientific publications from Germany are particularly frequently cited, underscoring their relevance (3rd place). The number of publications continues to rise, increasing by 1.7 percent from 2024 to 2025. Germany also ranks relatively high for joint publications by public research institutions and industry (6th place). From an economic perspective, it is also positive that the share of graduates in engineering is relatively high in Germany (5th place).

According to WIPO, investment in research and development fell slightly by 0.4 percent in the latest year-on-year comparison available (2023 to 2024). However, Germany still ranks highly when measured by the three largest corporate R&D investors (3rd place). The strongest investors in this area are major automotive companies and suppliers. Germany also remains among the leading countries for indicators relating to patent applications, although a slight downward trend is emerging.

In terms of technology adoption, developments in areas such as robotics (up 3.5 percent) and electric mobility (up 19.2 percent) remain clearly positive, although momentum has slowed. In the ten-year comparison, electric mobility was still up by 53 percent.

36th in Fostering Entrepreneurship

Germany is a long way from the leading group when it comes to the culture and conditions for fostering entrepreneurship, ranking 36th. In terms of the use of digital information technologies, Germany ranks as low as 60th, three places lower than last year. This is consistent with Germany’s ranking of only 52nd in the development of digital apps for mobile use. According to the study, Germany also lacks the necessary framework conditions: the expansion of broadband infrastructure and mobile networks is progressing only slowly. According to the GII, the number of venture capital investments fell by 13.2 percent compared with the previous year. Technology-driven start-ups in particular are heavily dependent on venture capital. It is also noteworthy that while Germany still performs very well in terms of human capital, it ranks only 36th internationally for investment in its education system relative to gross domestic product (GDP).

Switzerland Remains the Leader, Ahead of Sweden and the United States

For the Global Innovation Index 2026, WIPO assessed around 140 economies based on approximately 80 indicators. As in previous years, Switzerland ranks first, followed by Sweden and the United States. The Republic of Korea, Singapore and the United Kingdom rank fourth to sixth, respectively. The top 10 are rounded out by Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark and China.

As the United Nations agency responsible for intellectual property, WIPO recently also published its annual ranking of the world’s most innovative regions. Germany is represented by seven regions among the top 100: Munich, Berlin, Cologne, Stuttgart, Frankfurt am Main, Heidelberg-Mannheim and Hamburg.

The German Patent and Trade Mark Office

Inventiveness and creativity need effective protection. The DPMA is the German centre of expertise for all intellectual property rights – for patents, utility models, trade marks and designs. As the largest national patent office in Europe and the sixth largest national patent office in the world, it represents the future of Germany as a country of inventors in a globalised economy. Its approximately 2,800 employees at three locations – Munich, Jena and Berlin – provide services to inventors and companies. They implement the Federal Government's innovation strategies and further develop national, European and international protection systems.

Bild: iStock.com/metamorworks

Last updated: 29 September 2026