Thailand is getting more ideas out of what it already has

Thailand climbed one spot to 44th of 139 economies in the 2026 Global Innovation Index, the annual scorecard from the World Intellectual Property Organization — and the interesting part is how. Its 'output' ranking, which measures how well a country turns ideas and research into things that actually work and sell, rose two places to 41st; knowledge creation leapt from 48th to 35th. But the 'input' side — infrastructure, talent, institutions — didn't move at all. In other words, Thailand isn't spending its way up the table; it's getting more out of what it already has. It now ranks 3rd among 35 upper-middle-income economies and 4th in ASEAN.