Singapore ranked fifth in the world and second in Asia in the 2026 Global Innovation Index, maintaining the same ranking as last year. This is the fourth consecutive year Singapore has been in the top five. Out of 79 indicators, Singapore ranked first in 12, two more than last year.

The World Intellectual Property Organization released the 2026 Global Innovation Index on Tuesday (September 29). The top six were Switzerland, Sweden, the United States, South Korea, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, in that order, the same as last year. The Netherlands replaced Finland in seventh place this year, while Finland dropped to eighth; Denmark and China ranked ninth and tenth, respectively, unchanged from last year.

This year, Asia's overall performance continues to be impressive, with five Asian economies ranking among the top 20 globally. South Korea, Singapore, and mainland China are in the top ten, while Japan and Hong Kong are ranked 12th and 14th, respectively.

The Global Innovation Index mainly evaluates 139 economies around the world using 79 indicators in two aspects: innovation input and innovation output.

Innovation input covers five elements: institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market maturity, and business maturity; innovation output includes the actual performance of an economy's innovation activities, divided into knowledge and technology output, as well as creative output.

Singapore continues to rank first in the world in innovation investment, with its institutional performance being particularly outstanding, ranking first in both institutional environment and business environment. As for infrastructure, Singapore also ranks first in the world in logistics performance and air import cargo dwell time.

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In terms of innovation output, Singapore's performance this year is the same as last year, remaining in ninth place globally. Singapore's creative output has improved, rising from 15th place last year to 11th place. The report shows that cultural and creative service exports account for 6.3% of Singapore's total trade, ranking first in the world.

Premier Huang Xuncai said in a pre-recorded video speech at the 2026 Global Innovation Index launch in Geneva, Switzerland, that over the past 20 years, the government has invested about 1% of GDP annually in research and innovation, and will continue to do so.

He pointed out that compared to the scale of Singapore, these investment amounts can be considered quite considerable, but they are essential investments for our country's future. 'However, having only funds is not enough; innovation can only thrive when people have the confidence to experiment, take risks, and make long-term investments. This requires a solid foundation.'

Premier Huang said that from climate change to public health, the challenges of this era cannot be solved by any single country alone; it is necessary to bring together different ideas, perspectives, and capabilities. 'Even as global competition intensifies, we must preserve space for creativity to flow and for people to collaborate, so that we can continuously expand the frontiers of innovation.'

The World Intellectual Property Organization estimates that global R&D spending grew by 3.3% last year in real terms, and the growth rate is expected to further increase to 3.6% this year, reaching a total of about $3.4 trillion (approximately S$4.4 trillion).