South Korea ranked fourth among 139 economies in the 2026 Global Innovation Index, retaining its position from the previous year and remaining the highest-ranked Asian country. The index, compiled by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), assesses innovation inputs and outputs across 79 indicators. WIPO said global research and development is projected to reach $3.4 trillion in 2026, while corporate R&D reached a record $1.5 trillion in 2025 and artificial intelligence accounted for 53% of global venture-capital deal value in 2025 and 77% in the first half of 2026. South Korea ranked first globally in Human Capital and Research for the eighth consecutive year and second in Creative Outputs, while its patent, research and digital-government indicators also performed strongly.