Estonia remains emerging Europe's most innovative economy, ranking 17th of 139 economies in the 2026 Global Innovation Index (GII) published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on September 29.

Eight Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries now sit in the top 40: Estonia, Lithuania (32nd), Czechia (33rd), Slovenia (35th), Hungary (36th), Bulgaria (37th), Poland (39th) and Latvia (40th). Further east and south the picture is patchier, but WIPO singled out Ukraine and Moldova as countries that innovate well above what their level of development would predict, and Central Asia's economies gained ground on last year.

At the top, the index showed little change. Switzerland ranked first for a 16th consecutive year, followed by Sweden, the US, South Korea and Singapore. Europe accounts for 14 of the top 25 economies, and China, at 10th, remains the only middle-income economy among the leaders.

"AI is opening new technological frontiers across all fields in science, while government and corporate research investments reached all-time highs in 2025," WIPO director general Daren Tang said at the launch in Geneva.

79 indicators

The GII, now in its 19th edition, ranks economies on 79 indicators grouped into seven pillars. Five measure the inputs to innovation (institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication and business sophistication) and two measure its outputs (knowledge and technology outputs, and creative outputs). An economy's overall score is the simple average of its input and output sub-indices, which means the output indicators, spread across fewer pillars, carry proportionally more weight, according to WIPO's methodology.

The 139 economies covered account for 95.5% of the world's population and 98% of global GDP in purchasing power parity terms. Indicators range from R&D spending, venture capital (VC) deals and patent filings to high-tech exports, scientific articles and trademarks. WIPO also compares each economy's score with its income level, identifying "overperformers" that do more than their GDP per head would suggest.

The report found that innovation investment largely recovered in 2025 after the 2023 downturn, though growth was mostly below trend. Global R&D spending rose 4.7% in real terms in 2024, the year in which China's total R&D spending moved slightly ahead of that of the US. Corporate R&D among the world's top spenders hit a record $1.5 trillion last year.

Venture capital deal values rose around 28% to $510bn in 2025, the strongest annual gain since 2021, but the money is concentrating: artificial intelligence (AI) accounted for 53% of global venture capital deal value last year and 77% in the first half of 2026, while the number of deals fell for a fourth straight year.

This year's report looked in particular at deep science startups, in fields from life sciences and semiconductors to robotics and space. More than 30,000 have been created since 2000 and together they are worth $7.6 trillion, WIPO said. Estonia recorded the fastest growth of any economy covered, increasing the number of deep science startups by 313% between 2020 and 2025.

Emerging Europe's rankings

The CEE members of the EU dominate the region's rankings, with scores clustered closely between Estonia's 50.4 and Latvia's 38.3. 

Among the region's middle-income economies, Turkey (45th) is one of the long-term climbers WIPO highlights, having advanced most since 2013 alongside China, India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Morocco and Indonesia. Turkey has climbed through industrial design and branding, the report said. But WIPO also warns of an "innovation glass ceiling" for middle-income economies: convergence has come most easily in production, exports, startup finance and intellectual property, and hardest in the knowledge base and R&D, where research capacity builds slowly.

In the Western Balkans, Serbia ranks 56th, North Macedonia 61st, Montenegro 76th, Albania 79th and Bosnia & Herzegovina 84th. In the South Caucasus, Georgia (57th) and Armenia (59th) are well ahead of Azerbaijan (85th). Russia ranks 58th and Belarus 88th.

Ukraine (67th) and Moldova (68th) both feature among the 21 economies that WIPO says innovate above their level of development. 

In Central Asia, every economy except Tajikistan moved up on last year's index. Mongolia rose to 72nd from 78th, Kazakhstan to 73rd from 81st, Uzbekistan to 77th from 79th and Kyrgyzstan to 92nd from 96th, according to last year's rankings. Tajikistan slipped to 112th from 108th. Turkmenistan is not covered.

Emerging Europe and Central Asia in the Global Innovation Index 2026 (rank of 139 economies; score out of 100). Source: WIPO, Global Innovation Index 2026.

Estonia (17th)

Estonia is the only emerging European economy in the top 25 and the region's standout for startups, with the fastest growth in deep science ventures of any country in the index. Much of the recent energy has gone into defence technology. Estonian companies won €592mn in orders from the country's defence sector in 2025, more than €100mn above the previous year, according to the Ministry of Defence, and in September the Estonian Defence Forces signed a three-year partnership with Tallinn and London-based VC fund Archangel to connect defence technology developers and investors with military users.

Estonian capital is also flowing into defence startups elsewhere in Europe: Estonian investor Sentris joined a €20mn seed round for German laser counter-drone developer Inleap Photonics in September, and Tallinn-based Frankenburg Technologies agreed in May to develop anti-drone technology with Czech arms maker Colt CZ Group.

Lithuania (32nd)

Lithuania moved up to 32nd, building on strengths in life sciences and lasers. The government aims to make life sciences account for 5% of GDP by 2030, and in September Northway Biotech opened a €61mn cell therapy and personalised medicine centre in Vilnius, which it says is the first dedicated facility of its kind in the Baltic states.

The country's laser industry is finding its way into chipmaking. Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute signed a memorandum with the Lithuanian Laser Association and Lithuania's Center for Physical Sciences and Technology in September on a €5.6mn project to bring Lithuanian laser technology into advanced semiconductor packaging. Vilnius is also a fintech hub: Revolut, which holds a Lithuanian banking licence, is seeking a Swiss licence.

Czechia (33rd)

Czechia ranks 33rd, just behind Lithuania. Its biggest innovation project, US chipmaker Onsemi's planned $2bn expansion of its plant at Roznov pod Radhostem, is in question: the government is renegotiating CZK12bn (€0.5bn) of promised state support, with Industry Minister Karel Havlicek saying the company was not meeting the conditions. Onsemi has said it remains committed to the investment.

Czech businesses are investing into AI. The country's richest investment group, PPF, appointed Jindrich Fremuth as chief AI transformation officer in September, and defence companies are teaming up across the region, as in Colt CZ's anti-drone partnership with Estonia's Frankenburg.

Slovenia (35th)

Slovenia held 35th place, ranking 35th for innovation inputs and 38th for outputs, the country's Intellectual Property Office said. Its strongest pillar was infrastructure (20th), and it ranked seventh in the world for both scientific and technical articles and ISO 9001 certificates relative to the size of its economy, but its institutions ranking fell to 51st from 41st.

Parliament approved legislation in July to unlock €71mn in EU recovery funds for AI, supercomputing and quantum technologies, including a new high-performance supercomputer. Slovenian talent is also making its mark abroad: Veeda AI, a Toronto-based robotics simulation startup led by two Slovenians who left Nvidia, raised more than $90mn (€84mn) in seed financing in August.

Hungary (36th)

Hungary ranks 36th, just behind Slovenia. Its manufacturing base is giving it a share of the AI boom even without a large domestic AI sector: the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said in June that AI-related exports from its economies were growing faster than other exports, with Hungary and Poland among the beneficiaries through supply chains for servers, electronics and other AI-related equipment.

Bulgaria (37th)

Bulgaria, at 37th, ranks above Poland and Latvia, and its startups are drawing foreign buyers. Italian legaltech company Lexroom bought Sofia-based AI startup Praven Intelekt in September, its first deal in the region, and made its chief executive head of Central and Eastern Europe. Cargo drone developer Dronamics has joined an EU-backed project to integrate large remotely piloted aircraft into European airspace, and the government is planning a space technology hub at the former Dobroslavtsi airport near Sofia.

Poland (39th)

Poland, the region's largest economy, ranks 39th. Its space sector is one of the fastest-growing areas: Warsaw-listed satellite maker Creotech Instruments reported a rise of nearly 34% in revenue from continuing operations to PLN84.1mn (€19.8mn) in the first half of 2026, driven by the MikroGLOB military reconnaissance satellite programme, and spun off its quantum systems business in April. Polish investors are also active in European defence tech, with Balnord joining the Inleap Photonics round alongside Estonia's Sentris.

Latvia (40th)

Latvia entered the top 40 for the first time, one of the milestones WIPO highlighted this year. Government spending on R&D rose 31% to €194mn in 2025, according to provisional Eurostat data, but at €104 per inhabitant it still trails Lithuania (€138) and Estonia (€284), and remains well below the EU average of €288.9.