Vietnam ranked 43rd out of 139 economies in the 2026 Global Innovation Index (GII), improving one place from 2025, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which released the report in Geneva on September 29.
Vietnam’s GII ranking has steadily improved over the past decade, rising from 59th in 2016 to 43rd in 2026, an improvement of 16 places.
The country also improved its innovation output ranking by two places, from 37th in 2025 to 35th in 2026.
Two upper-middle-income economies ranking higher than Vietnam are China and Malaysia, at 10th and 34th, respectively. All other economies ahead of Vietnam were high-income, industrialised economies.
Within ASEAN, Vietnam ranked third, behind Singapore and Malaysia, surpassing Thailand.
WIPO also identified Vietnam as one of seven middle-income economies that have improved their GII rankings most rapidly since 2013, alongside China, India, Türkiye, the Philippines, Morocco and Indonesia.
Vietnam was further recognised as one of three economies — together with China and India — whose innovation performance is significantly above what would be expected given their level of development. WIPO noted that Vietnam has maintained innovation performance above its development level for 16 consecutive years, reflecting its ability to translate innovation inputs into outputs.
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