Pakistan has climbed four places to 95th in the Global Innovation Index 2026 and regained its status as an innovation overperformer, the label the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) gives to economies that produce more innovation than their income level would predict. The index, published by WIPO in late September, was reported across Pakistan this week after Dawn covered the results on 29 October. Pakistan finished ahead of where most economic indicators would place it, powered by a digital economy that keeps outperforming the country’s income level.
What the Global Innovation Index 2026 measures
The Global Innovation Index 2026 ranks 139 economies using around 80 indicators grouped into seven pillars. Five pillars measure innovation inputs, meaning the conditions a country provides, such as institutions, education, infrastructure and credit. Two pillars measure innovation outputs, meaning what a country actually produces: knowledge, technology and creative work. WIPO, a specialised agency of the United Nations, has published the index every year since 2007, and governments use it as a scorecard for science, technology and startup policy.
The single most telling figure in Pakistan’s profile is the gap between the two halves of the index. Pakistan ranks 121st in innovation inputs but 72nd in innovation outputs, and both positions improved on last year, when they stood at 124th and 75th. In plain terms, Pakistani researchers, developers and companies generate far more than the country’s institutions and infrastructure would suggest. That gap is exactly what earns the overperformer label, which Pakistan now holds for the fourth time, having previously held it in 2022 and 2024. Pakistan is one of 21 overperformers in the Global Innovation Index 2026, a group of four more economies than in 2025.
Photo: National Incubation Center Karachi
Where Pakistan scores best in the Global Innovation Index 2026
WIPO says Pakistan’s strengths are concentrated in the digital economy. The country’s standout indicator results are:
- Mobile app creation: 10th in the world
- ICT services exports: 15th in the world
- High-tech imports: 19th in the world
- Software spending: 33rd in the world
- University quality: 47th in the world
- Scientific production: 49th in the world
At pillar level, Pakistan ranks 71st in knowledge and technology outputs and 76th in creative outputs, its two strongest areas. Those numbers reflect a large freelance and software workforce that sells services abroad. Pakistan’s universities also punch above the country’s income level: Quaid-i-Azam University sits in the world’s top 400 in the QS rankings, a story we covered in Quaid-i-Azam University’s QS Ranking 2027 result, and NUST has entered the world top 200 in four subjects.
The top of the table, and Pakistan’s place in the region
For context, the summit of the Global Innovation Index 2026 is familiar: Switzerland remains first, as it has been for sixteen consecutive years, followed by Sweden and the United States, with South Korea and Singapore completing the top five. China continues to generate innovation outputs comparable to high income economies. In Pakistan’s own region, India at 38th is the clear leader and the longest standing overperformer in the world alongside Viet Nam, while Sri Lanka (94th) sits one place ahead of Pakistan and Bangladesh (105th) behind it. The index also maps the world’s top 100 innovation clusters, the city regions where patents and venture deals concentrate, and Pakistan does not yet have a cluster in that hundred, a gap that shows how much of the country’s innovation remains spread across individual freelancers and small firms rather than anchored in a few dense hubs.
The weak half of the scorecard
The same report is honest about where Pakistan lags. Institutions rank 126th, human capital and research 119th, and infrastructure 107th, while market sophistication is 99th and business sophistication 83rd. WIPO also publishes a confidence interval for each ranking, and for Pakistan it runs from 85th to 100th, a reminder that small movements in the middle of the table should not be over-read. The longer view matters more: Pakistan placed 107th in 2020, 99th in 2021, 87th in 2022, 88th in 2023, 91st in 2024 and 99th in 2025, before recovering to 95th this year. Within its peer groups, Pakistan stands 15th among 36 lower middle income economies and eighth among 11 economies in Central and Southern Asia, a region led by India at 38th overall.
What the overperformer tag really means
WIPO’s own explanation is worth quoting in spirit: innovation overperformance shows that innovation does not follow a straight line from income to results. Economies can generate more innovation than expected for their level of development when they build on focused strengths. For Pakistan, those strengths are software, apps and online services, sectors where a skilled graduate with a laptop can reach the world market without waiting for heavy infrastructure. The country’s incubation network, including hubs such as the National Incubation Center Karachi pictured above, feeds that pipeline, and its graduates increasingly win places on global platforms, much like the students in our report on Pakistani students topping ACCA exams worldwide.
The challenge the index sets for the coming year is clear. If Pakistan’s input rankings, in research funding, institutions and infrastructure, rise toward its output rankings, the overall position in the Global Innovation Index 2026 table would climb far faster. For now, the direction is right: up four places, outputs improving, and the overperformer badge restored. You can follow more results like this on our Pakistan World Rankings and Records page.
Sources
- Global Innovation Index 2026 results, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
- Pakistan country profile, Global Innovation Index 2026 (WIPO)
- Dawn report on Pakistan’s Global Innovation Index 2026 ranking, 29 October 2026, via Arya News
- Photo: National Incubation Center Karachi
Umar is an engineer by profession and a passionate writer by passion. He has a deep interest in sharing good news related to Pakistan and has been working hard to promote the positive image of his homeland. Umar has written numerous articles on various topics related to Pakistan, such as technology, sports, culture, and economy.