Skip to content
Insight

Denmark gets top-score again as one of the world’s most innovative economies

Denmark is among the most innovative economies globally. This has been confirmed in this year’s newly released WIPO Global Innovation Index, where Denmark ranks 9th out of 139 countries assessed. 
When 02.12.2025
What
Business Conditions Innovation Liveability

Global Innovation Index ranking 2025

Source: Global Innovation Index 2025. Innovation at a Crossroads.

Every year, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) analyses how well countries around the globe perform in terms of innovation. WIPO’s Global Innovation Index uses 78 indicators to evaluate 139 countries. In 2025, Denmark was ranked ninth-best globally, up from 10th in 2024. Only three countries among the 27 EU member states can boast a stronger innovation performance than Denmark.

Denmark scores particularly high on parameters related to its general framework conditions conducive to innovation, such as its institutional and regulatory environment, as well as physical and digital infrastructure.

Denmark scores high on these parameters

No. 2 on rule of law
No. 3 on government effectiveness
No. 5 on regulatory quality
No. 1 on ICT access
No. 2 on government services available online
No. 3 on logistics/infrastructure performance

Denmark also performs strongly on a number of parameters that more directly measure innovation and research activities and output, including the following:

  • #3 on number of researchers  (FTE per capita)

  • #3 on number of scientific and technical articles, relative to the size of the economy

  • #8 on number of patents by inventor origin, relative to the size of the economy

  • #8 on brand value of the Danish companies that are among the world’s top 5,000 companies

Methodology

The WIPO Global Innovation Index is based on data from 78 statistical indicators. The Index is calculated as the average of these statistical indicators across seven different areas: (1) Institutions, (2) Human capital and research, (3) Infrastructure, (4) Market sophistication, (5) Business sophistication, (6) Knowledge and technology outputs and (7) Creative outputs.

 

Want to learn more about Denmark’s  business environment?

Invest in Denmark provides free-of-charge, confidential, and tailor-made solutions for foreign companies looking to set up a new business in Denmark or expand an existing one. Please contact one of our experts here: 
Loading...