Global Innovation Index 2026: Bangladesh slips to bottom of South Asia as Nepal overtakes it

Bangladesh has slipped to the bottom among six South Asian economies included in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2026, ranking 105th among 139 economies as Nepal moved ahead to 104th.

The 19th edition of the index, titled "Powering Entrepreneurs at the Frontier of Science", was released today (29 September) by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialised agency of the United Nations.

Bangladesh scored 21.5 out of 100. Among the six South Asian economies included in the index, India ranked highest at 38th with a score of 40.1.

Bhutan, ranked 74th with 28.9, followed by Sri Lanka at 94th with 23.7, Pakistan at 95th with 23.7 and Nepal at 104th with 22.3.

Khondaker Golam Moazzem, president of the Knowledge Hub Institute, told The Business Standard, "Before focusing on innovation, Bangladesh needs to build the baseline systems required for it, including knowledge, human resources, infrastructure, energy, institutions and incentives.

"Instead of trying to create entirely new innovations immediately, Bangladesh should first prototype and adapt innovations developed elsewhere, redesign them for local needs and then develop new value-added ideas."

The GII measures innovation through two sub-indices – Innovation Inputs and Innovation Outputs – covering seven pillars and 79 indicators.

The five input pillars are institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication and business sophistication. The two output pillars are knowledge and technology outputs and creative outputs.

The indicators are normalised on a 0-100 scale to calculate pillar, sub-index and overall scores. The 2026 index covers 139 economies.

Bangladesh ranks higher on outputs than inputs

Bangladesh ranked considerably higher in innovation outputs than inputs, standing 92nd in outputs compared with 115th in inputs.

Among the five input pillars, Bangladesh performed strongest in infrastructure, ranking 84th, followed by market sophistication at 98th.

Its weakest input pillar was human capital and research, where it ranked 127th, followed by business sophistication at 125th and institutions at 113th.

Among the two output pillars, Bangladesh ranked 95th in knowledge and technology outputs and 87th in creative outputs.

Global innovation leaders largely unchanged

Switzerland, Sweden, the United States, South Korea and Singapore remained the world's top five innovation economies in 2026, with scores of 66.7, 63.2, 62.3, 61.4 and 61, respectively.

They were followed by the United Kingdom in sixth place with 59.6, the Netherlands in seventh with 58.4, Finland in eighth with 57.9, Denmark in ninth with 57.7 and China in 10th with 57.

At the bottom of the ranking, the Democratic Republic of the Congo placed 137th with a score of 12.6, followed by Niger at 138th with 12.1 and Chad at 139th with 9.5.

Beyond the rankings, AI helped drive a rebound in venture capital deal values and growth in corporate research and development spending, while emerging economies continued to expand their innovation activity.

WIPO Director General Daren Tang said AI is opening new technological frontiers across science, while government and corporate research investment has reached record levels.

He said the GII could help countries build innovation ecosystems that turn ideas into products and wider economic impact.