Morocco climbed nine places to 57th in the Global Innovation Index 2025, with strong performances in industrial designs, education spending, labor productivity, and scientific publications. However, weaknesses persist in research and development, infrastructure, and market sophistication, leaving the country behind regional leaders like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Morocco ranks 57th out of 139 economies in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2025, marking a nine-place rise compared to last year. Published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in partnership with the Portulans Institute, this 18th edition highlights Morocco's «one of the region's biggest jumps, with strong results in industrial designs, education expenditure, and labor productivity». The GII measures innovation capabilities across roughly 80 indicators, grouped into innovation inputs and outputs. Morocco performs better in outputs than inputs: it rose from 89th to 77th in inputs, while its output ranking slipped slightly from 47th in 2024 to 51st this year. Overall, the country ranks 4th among 37 lower middle-income economies and 8th among 18 economies in Northern Africa and Western Asia. Strong and weak performances The report shows Morocco improved in six short-term indicators, though three worsened. Strengths include ranking 6th globally for industrial designs by origin, 12th for high-tech manufacturing, and 16th for education spending as a share of GDP. Labor productivity grew by 2.5% in the short term, and scientific publications rose by 14.6% between 2023 and 2024. Morocco also ranks 46th worldwide in creative outputs, boosted by trademarks, industrial designs, and rising brand value. Persistent weaknesses remain. Morocco is 84th in human capital and research, held back by weak PISA test scores, high pupil–teacher ratios, and limited R&D investment. It is also 82nd in infrastructure, especially in low-carbon energy and ecological sustainability, and 81st in market sophistication, where venture capital activity is still underdeveloped. The absence of Moroccan universities in the QS global rankings and the lack of unicorn companies underscore gaps in advanced research and the startup ecosystem. The Global Innovation Tracker 2025 reflects this mixed picture: venture capital deals surged 60.9%, scientific publications rose 14.6%, and broadband connectivity improved 9.6%. Yet R&D investment fell 18.2%, sanitation coverage slipped 1.3%, and mobile app creation declined 22.5%. Regionally, Morocco ranks behind the UAE (30th), Saudi Arabia (46th), and Qatar (48th), but ahead of Bahrain (62nd), Jordan (65th), Oman (69th), Tunisia (76th), Egypt (86th), Lebanon (90th), and Algeria (115th). At the global level, the GII ranking is led by Switzerland, Sweden, the United States, South Korea, and Singapore, followed by the UK, Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark, and China, which entered the top 10 for the first time.
