THE Philippines fell two notches in the latest Global Innovation Index (GII) rankings, missing the government’s target, but is among the middle-income economies that have climbed the fastest since 2013, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) said in a report released on Tuesday.
The 2026 GII ranked the country 52nd out of 139 economies, down from 50th last year. Under the 2023–2028 Philippine Development Plan, the government was aiming for a result of 49th, looking to build on the 2025 placing having surpassed the goal of 52nd.
It was third out of 36 lower-middle income and 11th among the 17 Southeast Asia, East Asia and Oceania economies, the WIPO also said. It should be noted that the WIPO used 2025 World Bank income classification as of July 2025. The Philippines was upgraded to the upper-middle-income category in July this year.
Still, the Philippines was tagged as among seven middle-income economies in the top 70, including China (10th), Vietnam (43rd), Turkey (45th), Morocco (54th) and Indonesia (55th) as having made the “strongest long-term advances” since 2023. Thirteen years ago, it was in 90th place.
“Their progress has followed different routes, but they share one feature: they have built firms, sectors and production networks able to turn selected strengths into innovation results,” the WIPO said.
Innovation output has exceeded innovation inputs, with the Philippines maintaining 49th place for output while falling to 69th from 59th in terms of inputs.
“Their (the fastest-movers’) rise has therefore depended not only on an expansion of innovation resources, but also on connecting domestic capabilities to markets — through global value chains, high-tech trade, digital services, design, branding, intellectual property and startup activity,” the WIPO said.
It warned, however, of a steeper road ahead. Climbing into the top 40 or 50, the WIPO said, will require broader research capacity, stronger business research and development (R&D), and more domestic knowledge creation.
The challenges for the Philippines compared to the other six economies tagged appear to be much higher based on a comparison of innovation performance.
In terms of knowledge base, or whether an economy can generate scientific knowledge, innovation performance for the Philippines was said “lower” in the areas of university, industry and international engagement, and scientific and technical articles. It was “medium” in university ranking and citable documents.
As for being a significant player in the R&D space, innovation was “lower” in the area of researchers and “medium” in gross R&D expenditure, global corporate R&D investors, gross domestic expenditure on R&D by businesses and research talent.
With regard to the startup and finance ecosystem, the Philippines was not rated in the areas of entrepreneurship policies, and culture and finance for startups/scaleups, was “lower” in venture capital (VC) received, “medium” in late-stage VC deals and “higher” in unicorn valuation.
The country saw most of its “higher” performance ratings in production and exports, particularly for high-tech manufacturing, high-tech exports, and information and communications technology exports. Innovation in greenfield R&D and high-tech foreign direct investments, along with production and export complexity, was seen as “medium.”
Lastly, with regard to intellectual property, or whether ideas can be turned into protected assets, the Philippines was “higher” in global brand value, “medium” in patents by origin, intangible asset intensity, trademarks by origin and industrial designs by origin. It was “lower” for Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) patents by inventor origin.
Both Vietnam and the Philippines were said to have advanced via integration into international and service networks, hitting high-income levels in high-tech manufacturing and exports, and also in the areas of unicorn valuation and global brands.
The Philippines, in particular, ranked 4th in high-tech exports, 6th in high-tech imports and 23rd in high-tech manufacturing.
The next step for both countries, the WIPO said, “is to move into higher-value functions within those networks by expanding domestic research, patenting and knowledge creation.”
“Both remain below the middle-income median in terms of scientific articles and PCT patenting, suggesting that their international production strengths still exceed their domestic knowledge-generation and invention capabilities,” it added.
Socioeconomic Planning Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon said the government would have to look at its weaknesses and improve to realize its goal of reaching 43rd by 2028, beginning with prioritizing the development of a capital market for startups.
She noted that currently, when startups get to a certain level of commercial readiness, they move out and register in another country to raise financing.
“So what we want is to develop a capital market for them,” Edillion said. “That’s not something that we can do overnight, of course, but we will be looking at those policies that need to be reformed.”
She expects the country to maintain its standing in terms of high-tech imports and exports over the short term. “But if we are really serious about translating this not just into the ranking but also in terms of the GDP, then we have to move up the value chain as well.”
The GII ranks world economies based on their innovation capabilities. The index aims to capture the different dimensions and facets of innovation through scores based on 80 indicators, grouped into innovation inputs and outputs.
