Artificial intelligence is driving a rebound in venture capital (VC) funding and corporate research and development (R&D) spending, with AI companies contributing to record corporate R&D growth, according to the latest World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) global innovation index 2026.
According to GII (2026), global R&D expenditure grew by more than 3.3% in 2025 in real terms and it will expand by 3.6% in 2026 to $3.4 trillion.
This growth in R&D spending is increasingly found in middle-income economies such as Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Corporate R&D grew at 5.8% in real terms in 2025 to $1.5 trillion, the highest on record, driven by software and AI companies as well as defense-related R&D.
The value of venture capital funding for new startups and business ideas increased 28 percent to $510 billion in 2025, marking the strongest annual gain since 2021.
However, investment is becoming increasingly concentrated in AI, which accounted for 53 percent of global VC deal value in 2025 and 77 percent in the first half of 2026.
The concentration in AI came as the overall number of VC deals fell for the fourth consecutive year, the report mentioned.
It further highlighted that a new generation of deep-science startups is turning frontier research into new industries. “
A special thematic chapter in the GII 2026 mapped more than 30,000 startups active across semiconductors, robotics, quantum computing, life sciences, space and advanced materials, with particularly strong growth in Central and Southern Asia, Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa,” the report said.
“AI is opening new technological frontiers across all fields in science, while government and corporate research investments reached all-time highs in 2025.
Our 2026 GII report shows that a new generation of deep-science startups is translating breakthroughs into products and transforming fields such as life sciences, space, robotics and clean energy. With many rich insights and data, “ said Daren Tang, WIPO director general.
According to the report, the United States led the deep-science startup landscape with 12,752 firms, followed by China with 3,466 and the United Kingdom with 2,133. Growth since 2020 was fastest in Central and Southern Asia, at 118 percent driven by India, followed by Latin America and the Caribbean at 71 percent and Sub-Saharan Africa at 65 percent.
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