Join our WhatsApp group for updates. Join WhatsApp updates ↗
Join the WhatsApp property list for Hong Kong property updates. Join the property list ↗
Hong Kong has climbed one place to 14th out of 139 economies in the 2026 Global Innovation Index, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on 29 September. It remains fifth among Asian economies, according to the Hong Kong government and WIPO’s results.
The city ranked 15th last year. In the 2026 index, its innovation input ranking stayed at eighth, while its innovation output ranking rose one place to 21st, the government said. The input measure covers conditions such as research, infrastructure and markets; the output measure looks at results including knowledge, technology and creative work.
The economies ahead of Hong Kong in Asia were South Korea, Singapore, China and Japan. Switzerland topped the global ranking, followed by Sweden and the United States.
WIPO also ranked the Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou innovation cluster first worldwide for a second consecutive year. That is a separate ranking of geographic innovation hubs, rather than Hong Kong’s individual economy ranking.
The Hong Kong government welcomed the result and said it would continue developing the city as an international innovation and technology centre, including through support for artificial intelligence adoption and closer cooperation across the Greater Bay Area. These are government plans; the index does not measure their future results.
The full WIPO report explains the rankings and the separate cluster assessment.
