Global Innovation Index 2025 Romania Records a Higher Score but Remains 49th in the World Intellectual Property – WIPO Ranking
Innovation has become one of the most important measures of a country's economic health, and the benchmark tool for measuring it worldwide is the Global Innovation Index (GII), published annually by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Rather than starting from a single figure, the GII builds a multi-dimensional picture of how economies innovate. In its most recent available edition, GII 2025 – the 18th edition, launched on 16 September 2025 – Romania ranks 49th out of the 139 economies assessed, a useful reference point for understanding where the country stands on the world innovation map.
The global picture first
At the top of GII 2025 stand Switzerland, Sweden and the United States, followed by strong performers such as the Republic of Korea and Singapore, with China entering the top ten for the first time – a notable milestone. The 2025 edition describes innovation systems at a crossroads: frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing are advancing rapidly, while investment growth is slowing and collaborative models are evolving to address global challenges. It is against this dynamic backdrop that Romania's performance should be read.
What the Global Innovation Index measures
The GII ranks world economies according to their innovation capabilities. It is composed of roughly 80 indicators grouped into two broad categories: innovation inputs (the enablers of innovation – institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication and business sophistication) and innovation outputs (the results – knowledge and technology outputs, and creative outputs). The fact that this index is produced by WIPO itself is significant: intellectual property – patents, trademarks and designs – is a direct signal of innovation activity, and protecting it is the condition for ideas to become real products and services that reach consumers.
Romania: 49th out of 139
In GII 2025, Romania ranks 49th out of 139 economies, with a score of 34.3 points, up from 33.4 in 2024. The statistical confidence interval for Romania's ranking lies between positions 47 and 49. Within its comparison groups, Romania ranks 43rd among the 54 high-income economies and 30th among the 39 economies in Europe. With a population of around 19 million and a GDP (at purchasing power parity) of roughly USD 894 billion, Romania sits in the upper half of the global ranking, but in the lower part of the group of developed economies.
Strengths and weaknesses
Encouragingly, Romania performs better in innovation outputs (48th) than in innovation inputs (57th) – meaning the country converts its available resources into results relatively efficiently, a sign of an efficient innovation system. Its strongest pillar is Infrastructure, where Romania ranks 31st, supported in particular by information and communication technologies. Among outputs, Knowledge and Technology Outputs rank 40th and Creative Outputs 52nd.
At the other end, Romania's weakest results come from the institutional and business environment. The Institutions pillar ranks only 85th, and within it the business environment sub-pillar falls to 118th – one of Romania's lowest scores – reflecting challenges related to policy stability for doing business and entrepreneurial culture. Human Capital and Research (72nd) and Business Sophistication (59th) also remain below potential. Another signal is that Romania has no clusters among the world's top innovation clusters.
A closer look inside the pillars adds useful nuance. Within the institutional pillar, Romania performs better on rule of law (45th) and on the regulatory environment (52nd), but is strongly pulled down by the business environment (118th). In infrastructure, information and communication technologies remain a genuine strength, while education (80th) and research spending remain below the average of developed economies. The conclusion is that Romania has an efficient but under-fuelled innovation system: progress would depend less on results and more on investment in inputs – predictable institutions, a stable business environment, better-funded education and research, and a strong culture of intellectual property.
A relatively stable trajectory (2020–2025)
Over the past six years, Romania's position has been relatively stable: 46th in 2020, 48th in 2021, 49th in 2022, 47th in 2023, 48th in 2024 and 49th in 2025. It should be kept in mind that data availability and periodic changes to the GII methodology affect year-on-year comparisons. The internal structure confirms this: over the same period, innovation inputs fluctuated between the 51st and 57th positions, while outputs ranged between 43rd and 50th, with Romania consistently stronger on outputs than on inputs.
To move up the ranking, Romania’s challenge is therefore less about producing results and more about improving the conditions that generate them: a more predictable regulatory and business environment, stronger investment in education and research, denser innovation clusters, and a broader culture of registering and protecting intellectual property. These are structural levers that take time, but they are precisely the areas where sustained public and private effort would translate into a higher innovation ranking – and, ultimately, into more and better products for consumers.
Why it matters for consumers
Romania's place in the Global Innovation Index is not merely a statistic for economists. A stronger innovation system means more quality products and services, fairer competition and, ultimately, concrete benefits for consumers. Intellectual property plays a central role here: without the protection of ideas, innovators would have little incentive to invest, and the market would be more vulnerable to counterfeiting.
This is precisely why InfoCons – the only consumer protection organization in Romania accredited within WIPO – closely follows these data and takes part, through its President Sorin Mierlea, in the Sixty-Eighth Series of Meetings of the Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO. Promoting innovation, respecting intellectual property rights and combating counterfeiting are mutually reinforcing directions that together contribute to a safer and more consumer-friendly economic environment. Improving Romania's position in the innovation ranking depends, to a large extent, on strengthening institutions, the business environment and the culture of intellectual property – themes at the heart of InfoCons' concerns.
Signature: InfoCons Consumer Protection and Intellectual Property Department