China has entered the world's top 10 in the Global Innovation Index 2025 released by the World Intellectual Property Organization or WIPO on Sept 16 — in a report ranking it 10th overall and first among 36 upper-middle-income economies, rising 25 places since 2013.
The report evaluates 139 economies on innovation input and output across seven pillars: institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication, business sophistication, knowledge and technology outputs and creative outputs, with 21 sub-pillars and 78 indicators.
China ranked fifth for innovation output, up two places from 2024 and 19th for innovation input, gaining four spots.
The advances are said to reflect steady progress in building a science- and intellectual property-driven economy through innovation-focused policies.
China leads globally in industrial design patents, utility model patents and trademark applications per unit of GDP and in the share of creative goods exports.
That's while it ranks second for invention patent applications per unit of GDP, industrial cluster development and business-funded R&D spending.
The nation hosts 24 of the world's top 100 innovation clusters. The Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster took first place globally, while Beijing ranked fourth and Shanghai-Suzhou sixth — all major hubs for patents, technology breakthroughs, and venture investment.
China's brand value remains second worldwide. In 2025, Chinese brands in the top 5,000 reached a combined $1.81 trillion, up 2.84 percent year-on-year, while high-tech exports and strengths in artificial intelligence, semiconductors and green technologies continued to grow.
