Oman climbs eight spots in innovation inputs pillar of 2026 Global Innovation Index

The 2026 Global Innovation Index, released by the World Intellectual Property Organization, shows the Sultanate of Oman advancing eight places to 47th in the innovation inputs pillar, up from 55th last year, while its overall ranking remained at 69th. The rise reflects stronger foundations, policies and programmes that attract investment, with fifteen Omani sub-indicators placed in the global top-40. Oman ranked ninth in net foreign direct investment inflows as a share of GDP, fourteenth in specialized cluster development and sixteenth in electricity output per million people.

It also recorded sharp jumps in venture-capital deals per GDP, industrial-design output and the share of research talent working in the business sector. University-industry R&D collaboration improved to 26th, and three Omani universities entered the QS World University Rankings, led by Sultan Qaboos University at 334th. The report cites iLab Marine and Innotech as flagship programmes converting research into commercially viable deep-science startups, underscoring Oman’s growing capacity to foster innovation and support sustainable development.