Iran excels in patents, STEM graduates in Global Innovation Index 2026
Tehran - BORNA - According to the newly released report, Iran ranks 81st among 139 global economies, 23rd among upper-middle-income economies, and 5th in the Central and Southern Asia region.
Amir-Abbas Mohammadi Koushki, head of Iran's National Invention and Innovation Team, highlighted the country's outstanding performance in specific sectors. Iran secured the 1st rank globally in market capitalization relative to GDP, 2nd in trademark registrations, and 9th in the share of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates (35.02%).
Additionally, the country ranked 9th in software spending, 13th in patent applications (with over 8,300 filed), 16th in industrial designs, and 26th in higher education.
While the overall ranking dropped 11 places from 70th in 2025, Mohammadi Koushki noted that Iran's innovation input rank actually improved, moving up five spots to 104th. The decline in the overall index was largely driven by a drop in innovation outputs, which fell from 46th to 58th. WIPO also attributes some year-to-year ranking fluctuations to changes in data availability and adjustments to the index framework.
Evaluating the seven core pillars of the GII, Iran ranked 54th in Knowledge and Technology Outputs, 56th in Human Capital and Research, 64th in Creative Outputs, 68th in Market Sophistication, 91st in Infrastructure, 111th in Business Sophistication, and 136th in Institutions. Notably, the value of Iranian brands among the world's top 5,000 brands was evaluated at $1.12 billion.
In the academic and research sector, the University of Tehran, Sharif University of Technology, and Amirkabir University of Technology were recognized as Iran's top three universities. Amirkabir University led domestic institutions in university-industry collaboration.
Furthermore, the Tehran innovation cluster was ranked 65th among the world's top 100 clusters, with medical technology and engineering identified as its primary fields of activity.
The 2026 GII report also featured a special focus on "Deep Science Entrepreneurship," highlighting Neovira, a life sciences and healthcare spin-off with Iranian origins, as a successful example of deep-tech startups.
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