Intellectual Property

Switzerland remains the world’s most innovative country. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) index, it ranks ahead of Sweden and the USA, while China enters the top 10 for the first time.

Keystone-SDA

September 16, 2025

Switzerland has topped the Global Innovation Index among more than 130 countries for more than ten years, the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced on Tuesday. The top three places remain the same as a year ago. They are followed by South Korea, which improved by two places, and Singapore, which fell one place.

The report warns of the effects of a slowdown in investment in innovation. Growth in research fell to 2.9 percent, its lowest level in 15 years. Actual spending by companies in this area was only 1 percent due to inflation. However, those active in new technologies increased their investments.

Berlin Reuters

China moved into the top 10 of the United Nations’ annual ranking of most innovative countries for the first time Tuesday, replacing Europe’s largest economy, Germany, as firms in Beijing invest heavily in research and development.

Switzerland remained in first place, a position it has held since 2011, followed by Sweden and the United States, while China was in 10th place in the Global Innovation Index (GII) survey of 139 economies that ranks them based on 78 indicators.

China is on track to become the biggest R&D spender as it rapidly closes the gap in private sector financing, the GII showed.

China contributed about a quarter of international patent applications in 2024, remaining the biggest source of them, while the US, Japan and Germany – which together make up 40% of total applications – all recorded slight declines.

Ownership of patents is widely seen as an important sign of a country’s economic strength and industrial know-how.

The outlook for global innovation is clouded by declining investment, according to the survey.

R&D growth is set to slow to 2.3% this year from 2.9% last year, which was its lowest since 2010 after the financial crisis.

Switzerland has always compensated for its lack of natural raw materials with great efforts to increase its innovative strength. If you believe a study, no other country succeeds better in constantly innovating.

Switzerland is the undisputed world champion when it comes to innovation. This is the result of the latest ranking of the Global Innovation Index. The result is not entirely surprising. In fact, Switzerland is at the top of this ranking for the ninth year in a row, which is calculated jointly by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the INSEAD business school and Cornell University. 129 countries are analysed, which together cover 92% of the world population and 97% of global value added.

ICT infrastructure improvements

What makes Switzerland so successful? Insider researcher and co-author of the study, emphasizes the political stability and the excellent business environment. The state further strengthened its position from 2018 to 2019, particularly in the area of information and communication technology 4.0 (ICT). Improvements can also be found in the government’s online service. In addition, Switzerland scores highly in terms of environmental quality, direct investments abroad, patent applications and high-tech products in manufacturing. Meanwhile, potential for improvement is seen in the framework data for company start-ups.

Canton Zug – Switzerland

Numerous independent ratings confirm the popularity of the canton of Zug for business and private life.

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