Muscat – Oman has strengthened the foundations supporting innovation, advancing eight places to 47th globally in the Innovation Inputs ranking of the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2026, as its overall position remained at 69th among 139 economies.

The annual index, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), points to a mixed picture for Oman: the country is making progress in the institutions, infrastructure and business conditions that support innovation, but its performance in translating these foundations into knowledge and technology remains a challenge.

The report said 15 of Oman’s individual indicators ranked among the global top 40.

Among its strongest performances, Oman ranked ninth globally in net foreign direct investment flows as a percentage of GDP, 14th in the development of specialised clusters and 16th in electricity production/million people.

It also ranked 18th in business policy stability, 20th in ICT access, 22nd in STEM graduates, 24th in entrepreneurship policies and culture, and 26th in university-industry R&D collaboration.

Several indicators recorded notable gains. Oman advanced 32 places in venture capital deals/billion dollars of GDP, 32 places in industrial designs by origin and 25 places in the share of research talent employed in businesses.

The country also climbed 23 places to 33rd globally in business-funded research and development expenditure as a share of total R&D spending.

The index also showed institutions as Oman’s strongest-performing pillar, ranked 39th globally, with a score of 63.6. It was followed by infrastructure at 54th, market sophistication at 58th and business sophistication at 60th.

Oman ranked 71st in human capital and research, while its output pillars remained weaker, with creative outputs at 73rd and knowledge and technology outputs at 105th.

This year’s GII focuses on ‘Deep Science Entrepreneurship’ –  the ability to turn frontier scientific research into new industries. Oman was highlighted through iLab Marine and Innotech, which were identified as national examples of converting research and innovation into commercially viable projects.

In the GCC, the UAE led with 25^th rank, followed by Saudi Arabia (42nd), Qatar (47th), Kuwait (62nd) and Bahrain (64th).

Switzerland topped the 2026 index, followed by Sweden, the US, South Korea and Singapore.

“The 2026 edition introduces the Dealroom–WIPO Deep Science Startup Tracker, the first global mapping of deep science startups and spinouts, providing new evidence on where science-based entrepreneurship is emerging and how it is evolving around the world. Also the GII Innovation Ecosystems & Data Explorer has been expanded for this edition, offering deeper insights into areas such as high-technology trade and deep science startups,” said Daren Tang, Director General of WIPO.