The Zhitong Finance App learned that on September 29, in the 2026 “Global Innovation Index” published by the World Intellectual Property Organization, Hong Kong rose one more place to 14th place out of 139 global economies and remained in fifth place in Asia. Among the two sub-indices under the “Innovation Index”, Hong Kong maintained 8th place in the world in the “innovation investment” ranking, and rose one place to 21st place in the “innovation output” ranking.
Hong Kong's score in the five pillars of “innovation investment” was higher than the average of high-income economies. Among them, “market maturity” ranked second in the world, while “human capital and research”, “institutions” and “infrastructure” rose to sixth, seventh and eleventh place in the world, respectively. In terms of branch sectors, Hong Kong continues to rank first in the world in terms of “credit”; it is ranked in the top 10 in various fields, including “higher education” (3rd), “information and communication technology” (fourth), “investment” (fourth), “institutional environment” (ninth), and “business environment” (tenth). The data also shows that total R&D expenditure and number of researchers in Hong Kong continue to rise.
As for Hong Kong's “creative output” pillar ranking under “innovation output”, it rose two times to 15th place in the world; the “knowledge and technological output” pillar ranking rose one more place to 29th place. The data also shows that the number of patents and mobile application creation in Hong Kong continues to rise.
A spokesman for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said today: “We are pleased to see Hong Kong making good progress in the Innovation Index. Accelerating the development of innovation and technology is the current administration's priority. The Government is following the direction set out in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development (2026-2030) (“Hong Kong's First Five-Year Plan”) and is making every effort to promote Hong Kong's development as an international innovation and technology center. Among them, Hong Kong will optimize the innovation and technology development system, accelerate integration with national key science and technology strategies, and establish a new pattern of 'three innovation and technology parks and five major R&D institutions'. In particular, the Hong Kong Park in the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone will form upstream, middle and downstream collaborative development with Xintian Science and Technology City to jointly build a complete industrial ecosystem covering R&D, transformation, pilot testing and mass production. Hong Kong will also promote new industrialization according to local conditions, build a new industrial development system with Hong Kong characteristics, and comprehensively promote the 'artificial intelligence+ (AI+) 'initiative, enhance computing power infrastructure, and accelerate the application of AI by small and medium-sized enterprises to empower thousands of industries with AI technology.
At the same time, Hong Kong will make good use of its advantages in internal and external communication, build a hub for international scientific and technological cooperation, deepen the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and gather global innovation and technology resources and talents. The HKSAR Government will strive to lead Hong Kong in realizing the vision of the “Hong Kong First Five-Year Plan” to establish an international innovation and technology center covering the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area after 2030, covering the whole country and connecting the world.”
The “Innovation Index” is a ranking of the innovation capabilities and achievements of various economies around the world. The evaluation criteria include various aspects such as systems, human capital and scientific research infrastructure, credit, investment, collaboration, knowledge creation, absorption and dissemination, and creative output.
The “Innovation Index” includes two sub-indices: “Innovation Investment” and “Innovation Output”. Under “innovation investment,” there are five pillars, namely “system,” “human capital and research,” “infrastructure,” “market maturity,” and “business maturity.” “Innovation output” includes the two pillars of “knowledge and technological output” and “creative output.” There are three more branch columns under each of the above pillars.