Out of 139 economies measured in the Global Innovation Index 2026, Lebanon placed 86th with a score of 25.6 out of 100. Among Arab countries, it came 11th, just behind Egypt and ahead of Algeria.
The index is published every year by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) together with business school INSEAD and Cornell University. Now in its 19th edition, it ranks countries on how well they turn money, talent and policy into new ideas, products and creative work.
Two Halves of One Score
Every country gets a score between 0 and 100. That number is the average of two sub-indices. One measures what a country puts into innovation, and the other measures what comes out.
Inputs are spread across five pillars: institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication, and business sophistication. Outputs cover two pillars: knowledge and technology outputs, and creative outputs.
Lebanon Gets More Out Than It Puts In
Lebanon ranked 90th on inputs but 81st on outputs. In plain terms, the country produces more knowledge, technology and creative work than its institutions, infrastructure and markets would predict.
Morocco and Tunisia show the same pattern, even more strongly. Morocco sits 76th on inputs and 46th on outputs, while Tunisia jumps from 92nd to 56th.
Gulf economies tend to look the other way around. The UAE ranks 12th on inputs and 42nd on outputs, Saudi Arabia goes from 30th to 62nd, and Qatar from 33rd to 67th.
Half a Point Behind Egypt
The UAE leads the Arab world with a score of 46.4, good for 25th place globally. Saudi Arabia follows at 37.9 (42nd), then Qatar at 36.6 (47th) and Morocco at 32.8 (54th).
Further down, Jordan scored 31.5 (60th), Kuwait 30.9 (62nd), Bahrain 30.8 (64th), Oman 30.0 (69th) and Tunisia 29.3 (71st). Egypt scored 26.1 to place 83rd, only 0.5 points ahead of Lebanon. Algeria closes the regional list at 20.5, ranked 111th.
At the very top, Switzerland kept first place with 66.7. Sweden (63.2), the United States (62.3), Korea (61.4) and Singapore (61.0) complete the global top five. The regional comparison was compiled by the Credit Libanais Economic Research Unit.
Deep Science Spreads to Middle-Income Countries
This year's report, titled "Powering Entrepreneurs at the Frontier of Science", focuses on deep science startups. More than 30,000 deep science startups and spinouts have been created since 2000, with a combined enterprise value of around $8 trillion.
That activity is no longer limited to the usual hubs. According to the report, it is growing in middle-income economies, especially in health technology, advanced manufacturing and agritech.
The report names five things a country needs to build that kind of ecosystem: strong links between research and industry, working intellectual property and technology transfer systems, long-term financing, skilled talent, and supportive policy. Most of them fall under the input pillars, the side of the index where Lebanon ranks 90th.
