1 OCT 2026 — Vietnam moved one place ahead of Thailand in the 2026 Global Innovation Index, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization on 29 September. Vietnam ranks 43rd and Thailand 44th. WIPO's own confidence ranges for the two countries overlap almost completely, so the swap is closer to a tie than an overtaking.
Singapore held fifth place worldwide and remains first in the world on innovation inputs.
Where Southeast Asia stands
The index ranks 139 economies on about 80 indicators, from research spending and patents to high-tech exports and creative output. WIPO's 2026 ranking puts Singapore 5th, Malaysia 34th, Vietnam 43rd, Thailand 44th, the Philippines 52nd, Indonesia 55th, Cambodia 93rd, Brunei 98th, Laos 108th and Myanmar 125th.
WIPO names Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia among the economies that have climbed fastest over the past decade, its release says. Vietnam is also one of the two longest-running "overperformers", scoring above what its income level predicts for 16 years in a row, alongside India.
A tie, statistically
WIPO publishes a confidence interval with each rank to show how much it could move given uncertainty in the data. According to WIPO's country briefs, Vietnam's 2026 rank lies between 40 and 45 and Thailand's between 41 and 45. The one-place gap is well inside both ranges.
The two countries got there differently. Vietnam's outputs improved from 37th to 35th while its inputs slipped from 50th to 54th. Thailand's inputs held at 46th and its outputs rose from 43rd to 41st. Last year Thailand was 45th and Vietnam 44th.
The longer climb, and a slip
Indonesia has made the region's largest climb over six years, from 85th in 2020 to 55th, where it has held for three editions. Malaysia has stayed between 33rd and 36th since 2020 and is 34th again.
The Philippines slipped from 50th to 52nd. Its outputs held at 49th, but its innovation inputs fell from 59th to 69th, the WIPO brief shows. Inputs cover the conditions for innovation, including institutions, human capital, infrastructure and the depth of markets and business.
Reading a composite index
The index is a composite, so a change in rank can come from a country's own performance or from other countries moving. WIPO's briefs add that "data availability and changes to the GII model framework influence year-on-year comparisons", which is why the confidence ranges matter.
Beyond the ranks
The broader report also finds research spending growing fastest in middle-income economies including Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, and lists Malaysia among the middle-income leaders for science-based start-ups. Those trends say more about where the region is heading than a one-place swap does.
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