Muscat:The Sultanate of Oman has made significant progress in the 2026 Global Innovation Index, advancing 8 places in the innovation inputs pillar to rank 47th globally, compared to 55th last year. This improvement highlights Oman's supportive foundations, policies, and programmes that encourage innovation, alongside a promising investment environment.
According to Oman News Agency, Oman maintained its position at 69th globally in the overall ranking of the index, which is issued annually by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and evaluates 139 economies worldwide this year.
The report reveals that 15 of Oman's sub-indicators ranked among the top 40 globally. Notably, Oman was 9th in net foreign direct investment inflows as a percentage of GDP, 14th in the development of specialized clusters, and 16th in electricity output per million population.
Further achievements include Oman's 18th place in policy stability for doing business, 20th in information and communications technology access, 22nd in the proportion of graduates in STEM fields, 24th in entrepreneurship policies and culture, and 26th in university-industry research and development collaboration.
The index's pillar rankings for Oman showed progress in 6 out of 7 pillars. The institutions pillar was the strongest, reaching 39th place, supported by policy stability and an effective regulatory environment. This was followed by the infrastructure pillar at 54th and the market sophistication pillar at 58th, marking a 12-place improvement from last year.
The report noted qualitative leaps in some indicators. Oman rose significantly in the number of venture capital deals and industrial designs by origin per billion dollars of GDP at purchasing power parity, both advancing 32 places. Additionally, Oman improved 25 places in the proportion of research talent in the business sector.
Oman also advanced 23 places in research and development expenditure funded by the business sector, ranking 33rd globally. The country's universities showed progress, with Sultan Qaboos University moving up to 334th in the QS World University Rankings, and the University of Nizwa and Dhofar University entering the top 1000.
This year's report focused on "entrepreneurship in deep science," highlighting iLab Marine and Innotech as leading national models in transforming research into economically viable projects. These initiatives represent Oman's first national presence in the deep science startups tracker.
The Global Innovation Index serves as a strategic tool for policymakers to assess and enhance their national innovation systems, supporting sustainable development based on knowledge and innovation.
