Morocco climbed three places to 54th in the 2026 Global Innovation Index (GII), reaching its highest-ever position in the ranking, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Morocco’s Office of Industrial and Commercial Property (OMPIC).
The Kingdom also ranks fourth among lower-middle-income economies and seventh in Northern Africa and Western Asia. Its position has improved sharply over the past several years, rising from 75th in 2020. WIPO identifies Morocco among the middle-income economies that have made the strongest long-term gains since 2013, alongside China, India, Vietnam, Türkiye, the Philippines and Indonesia.
Industrial designs and intangible assets
Morocco’s strongest results are linked to the use and commercialization of intangible assets. The country ranks 11th globally in the intangible assets category, six places higher than in the previous edition.
Read also : Morocco ranks second in latest assessment of African countries’ innovation capacity
It ranks fifth worldwide for industrial design filings by origin relative to GDP, 16th for trademark filings and 58th for patent filings. The trademark and patent rankings improved by six and four places, respectively, from the previous edition.
WIPO also places Morocco 13th for labor productivity growth and 28th for high-tech manufacturing. The report points to Morocco’s industrial upgrading and the growing use of designs, brands and other intangible assets in commercial activity.
The country records a notable difference between the resources supporting innovation and the results they produce. Morocco ranks 76th in innovation inputs, which cover the conditions and investments supporting innovation, but rises to 46th in innovation outputs, covering research, technology and creative results. WIPO places Morocco among a group of middle-income economies whose innovation outputs exceed what their input levels would suggest.
The report links this performance to Morocco’s ability to connect domestic capabilities with markets through global value chains, high-tech trade, digital services, design, branding, intellectual property and startup activity.
What Morocco needs to improve
WIPO says the next challenge is to strengthen the research and business links needed to sustain Morocco’s progress.
Read also : Morocco ranks among the world’s lowest-performing education systems in PISA 2025
Its recommendations include expanding research capacity, strengthening cooperation between universities and companies, increasing private-sector research and development, and improving access to financing for startups and growing companies, particularly venture capital.
Switzerland remains global innovation leader
The 2026 Global Innovation Index is the 19th edition of WIPO’s annual ranking. It assesses 139 economies using 79 indicators covering areas such as institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, business sophistication, knowledge and technology outputs, and creative outputs.
The index divides these indicators into two equally weighted components: innovation inputs, which measure the resources and conditions supporting innovation, and innovation outputs, which measure the results generated by those resources. The overall ranking is based on the average of the two.
Switzerland remains the world’s most innovative economy for the 16th consecutive year, followed by Sweden and the United States. South Korea ranks fourth and Singapore fifth, while the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Finland, Denmark and China complete the top 10.
Read also : Morocco ranks 11th worldwide for development-backed private investment
Europe continues to account for the largest share of leading innovation economies, with 14 of the top 25. China remains the only middle-income economy in the top 10, while the United Arab Emirates entered the top 25 at 25th.
The 2026 edition also reports a recovery in global innovation investment after the downturn recorded in 2023. Scientific publications, venture capital deal values, cancer radiotherapy availability and labor productivity all grew faster than their 10-year trends in 2025, while 5G networks reached 55% of the world’s population and robot deployment increased by around 9% to 4.7 million units in 2024.
