New WIPO report: PH among fastest-growing economies for intangible investments
July 8, 2026
The Philippines has emerged as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies in intangible investment, with knowledge-based assets such as research and development (R&D), software, brands and intellectual property increasingly strengthening the country’s long-term competitiveness, according to a report released this July by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
The third edition of the World Intangible Investment Highlights (WIIH), published by WIPO in collaboration with the Luiss Business School (LBS), found that the Philippines generated $49.1 billion in intangible investments in 2022. From 2012 to 2022, the country’s real intangible investments grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.9%, surpassing the global average of 3.5%.
Intangible investment in the country maintained a strong upward trajectory during the period, with growth briefly interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic before rebounding at 4.6% from 2021 to 2022. This marked the third-fastest growth rate out of the 29 economies surveyed, behind only India and Japan and ahead of the United States based on most recent data.
Intangible assets, which include organizational knowledge, research and development (R&D), software and data, brands, design and other intellectual property (IP), remain undermeasured and poorly understood despite comprising a significant and growing share of the world economy.
The 2026 report notes that global investment in intangible assets has been growing at nearly three times the rate of tangible investments, with many high-income countries shifting to intangible-intensive economies.
In 2025, the 29 economies surveyed, which together account for 57% of global GDP, reached an aggregate intangible investment that surpassed the $10 trillion-mark and achieved an all-time high, with the US, Japan and Germany leading in absolute size.
R&D, software grow fastest
Among the categories of intangible assets, R&D posted the fastest growth in the Philippines at a 20.1% CAGR between 2012 and 2022. Software and databases followed at 18.3%, likewise making the Philippines the fastest growing in the category.
Although these two asset classes account for only around 15% of the country’s total intangible investments, R&D investment grew more than sixfold and software and database investment more than fivefold over the decade, underscoring the country’s accelerating shift toward an innovation- and technology-driven economy.
Meanwhile, organizational capital remained the country’s largest intangible asset, accounting for 48.3%, followed by brands at 28.9%.
The latest edition also placed greater emphasis on brands as a strategic asset for building consumer trust and competitiveness in the AI era. Across the economies surveyed, brand investment reached $1.4 trillion, with the Philippines ranking among the world’s top 12 at $14.2 billion.
Innovation as the next frontier after UMIC
As a share to GDP, tangible investments in the Philippines continued to dominate with a share of 20% while intangibles accounted for 4.4%. The investment performance is typical of a middle-income economy that continues to prioritize infrastructure and capital formation.
Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) Director General (DG) Teodoro C. Pascua welcomed the report, saying its findings come at a pivotal moment as the Philippines begins its next chapter as an upper-middle-income economy.
The challenge ahead, he said now shifts to steadily strengthening knowledge-based assets for long-term competitiveness.
“The experience of advanced economies shows that sustained investments in knowledge, technology and IP become the strongest drivers of productivity and growth. As the Philippines enters upper-middle-income status, our rapid gains in R&D, software and brands show that we are paving the way toward that future and that we must reinforce the foundations through innovation-enabling IP policies and programs,” DG Pascua said.
Marco M. Alemán, WIPO Assistant Director General for the IP and Innovation Ecosystems Sector, emphasized that IP plays a fundamental role in enabling businesses and economies to capture the value of intangible assets.
“These are precisely the assets that intellectual property protects and turns into value, and the report brings various forms of measured and unmeasured intangible assets into view for policymakers and businesses, featuring countries of different levels of development,” he said.
The 2026 edition also marks the Philippines’ first appearance in the WIIH, reflecting the increasing recognition of the country’s knowledge-based economy. # # # (Rawl Maliwat, Communications & Marketing Writer)