The country dropped 6 positions in one year from 68th place in 2024 (in 2022 it was in 56th place). This is because in the short term 2 indicators improved and 7 indicators worsened.
We have a 3.1% setback in scientific publications, R&D by 2%, number of venture deals (29.3%), international patent applications fell by 16.7%, robot adoption fell by 75%. The country benefited from fixed broadband Internet access, which grew by 5.1%.
Romania ranked 49th, Ukraine 66th.
The Global Innovation Index (GII) 2025 defines innovation in a broad sense, including not only R&D-related breakthroughs, but also incremental, non-R&D and cost-effective innovation.
It measures this through two equally weighted sub-indices: Inputs (five components covering investment, human capital, infrastructure and enabling environment) and Products (two components covering knowledge and technology and creative outputs).
The 2025 framework uses 78 indicators, reflecting WIPO’s efforts to modernize measurement methods, integrate new data sources and more accurately reflect today’s complex, distributed and digital innovation ecosystems.
European countries continue to lead the rankings of the world’s most innovative countries.
Switzerland topped the index for the 15th consecutive year, with Sweden, the United Kingdom, Finland, the Netherlands and Denmark rounding out the top ten.
Switzerland is in the top ten for all seven major indicators, but ranks first only for the “creative activity” indicator.
The US retains its third consecutive year in the GII ranking, topping the list for the third year in a row in two core indicators: “market sophistication” and “business sophistication”.
America lags behind in the “infrastructure” indicator, where it ranks only 32nd in the world. This indicator includes three measures: information and communications technology (9th); general infrastructure (13th); and environmental sustainability (98th).
Based on these indicators and WIPO’s methodology, environmental sustainability appears to be America’s weakness. This indicator takes into account energy efficiency, the use of low-carbon energy and the implementation of environmental management practices.
The Asian region showed strong momentum in the GII 2025 rankings, with South Korea achieving a record fourth place. The country ranked first in the Human Capital and Research pillar and also scored highly in various R&D indicators.
China also entered the top 10 of the GII rankings for the first time, becoming the only middle-income country in the top 30. According to WIPO estimates, China is the world’s largest consumer of R&D and the world leader in the number of patent applications filed.
