GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / EuroWire / – Global investment in intangible assets passed US$10 trillion in 2025 for the first time, the World Intellectual Property Organization said. The Geneva-based agency said spending on non-physical assets grew more than three times faster than investment in tangible assets. The category includes intellectual property, software, data, brands, design, research and development, organizational know-how and skilled talent.
WIPO Director General Daren Tang presented the figures during the Sixty-Eighth Series of Meetings of the Assemblies of WIPO Member States in Geneva. He said the data showed wider use of intellectual property across economies. WIPO linked the rise to broader investment in knowledge-based assets. The agency also said more economies now treat intellectual property as part of economic growth and business development.
The figures add a new marker for the global intangible economy. Companies and public institutions track intangible investment because many high-value activities do not depend mainly on factories, buildings or equipment. WIPO said established innovation leaders, including the United States, Japan and Germany, remain central to the trend. It also cited growth in India, the Philippines and Brazil.
Global investment data
The 2026 World Intangible Investment Highlights report, co-published by WIPO and Luiss Business School, provides annual and quarterly data on intangible investment. Its database covers 29 high- and middle-income economies. The group includes 22 European Union economies, Brazil, Canada, India, Japan, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and the United States. Together, those economies accounted for more than half of global GDP in 2025.
The 2026 edition added first estimates for Canada and the Philippines. WIPO said the report serves as a reference source for tracking global intangible investment trends. The data covers assets that can support business value but often remain hard to capture in standard accounts. These include software, databases, brands, artistic originals, training, design and organizational capital.
Intellectual property trade
WIPO also said trade in intellectual property crossed US$1.2 trillion last year. The total has more than doubled since 2010. The United States, China and Japan led that trade, while Mexico and Türkiye also ranked among major intellectual property traders. WIPO reported that global trade in cultural goods reached a record US$250 billion, covering music, film, animation and other creative products.
The agency also outlined activity across its training and support programs. Since 2020, the WIPO Academy has trained more than 800,000 people, and 1.3 million people together with IP training institutes. More than 100,000 small and medium-sized enterprises have used WIPO’s IP Diagnostics Tool. Its network of 1,800 Technology and Innovation Support Centers handled more than 2.5 million requests last year in close to 100 countries.