Geneva (AFP) – Artificial intelligence is fuelling a rebound in investment in innovation, with corporate research and development spending reaching record highs, the United Nations said Tuesday. The UN’s World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) reported that more money is flowing into venture capital, even as the number of VC deals is shrinking and becoming increasingly concentrated on AI firms.
WIPO, the UN patent and innovation agency, stated that AI is shortening the paths of discovery and fuelling much of the world’s economic growth. “AI is not just a breakthrough technology; it’s going to change the way that we innovate and create,” WIPO chief Daren Tang told reporters. “A new generation of deep-science startups is translating breakthroughs into products and transforming fields such as life sciences, space, robotics, and clean energy.”
Tang noted that innovation investment has remained resilient this year and is “beginning to see growth again.” Global research and development is expected to reach $3.4 trillion this year, growing faster than GDP growth, while corporate R&D is projected to hit a record $1.5 trillion in 2025, up 5.8 percent, according to WIPO.
– Venture capital’s AI focus –
While the number of venture capital deals has dropped for the fourth straight year, their value has risen by 28 percent to $510 billion in 2025. AI accounted for 53 percent of global VC deal value last year and 77 percent in the first half of 2026. “AI might reverse this productivity slump that we have seen for the last 15 to 20 years in high-income economies,” said Sacha Wunsch-Vincent, co-editor of WIPO’s annual Global Innovation Index. If applied correctly, artificial intelligence has the potential to benefit every sector, he remarked.
“The open question here really is how can we broaden this innovation spurt beyond this one technology only, which is currently mostly LLM (large language models). We see a lot of the traditional big R&D spenders—pharma, cars, construction—cutting back on their R&D spend,” he noted. Tang expressed hope that AI would be “a rising tide that lifts all boats,” emphasizing that a healthy innovation ecosystem needs to have strength in as many areas of technology as possible.
– Global country rankings –
For the 16th consecutive year, Switzerland led the Global Innovation Index, which tracks innovation drivers in the world’s economies. Sweden and the United States retained second and third place for the fourth year running, followed by South Korea and Singapore.
China has risen dramatically, climbing from 35th place in 2013 to 10th position, while India moved from 66th to 38th during the same period. The report also highlighted significant jumps by countries such as Vietnam, Turkey, and the Philippines. The top five innovation clusters remain unchanged in 2026, led by Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou, followed by Tokyo-Yokohama, San Jose-San Francisco, Beijing, and Seoul.
Further down the list, Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto and Paris overtook Los Angeles, which dropped two places to 12th. Many of the biggest risers were in China, with Ningde featuring prominently, increasing 24 places to 75th. Outside of China, Miami rose six places to 61st, while Chennai climbed five places to 79th. The largest fallers were Pittsburgh and Oxford, both dropping eight places to 84th and 85th, respectively.
© 2024 AFP
