“A top-10 global ranking hiding inside a 95th-place headline number — that's the real story.”
Buried inside WIPO's Global Innovation Index 2026 is a number most headlines about Pakistan's innovation ranking will miss: Pakistan ranks 10th in the world — out of roughly 140 economies — for mobile app creation relative to GDP.
It sits alongside two other strong digital-economy indicators: 15th globally in ICT services exports, and 19th in high-tech imports, which tracks how deeply a country's industries are integrated into global technology supply chains.
This is where the IP conversation becomes directly relevant. App developers, software studios and digital product teams in Pakistan are producing genuinely competitive, globally ranked output — but a strong ranking in creation doesn't automatically translate into protected, monetizable IP.
Copyright in software, trademark protection for app brands, and clear ownership terms in outsourced development work are the unglamorous groundwork that turns a top-10 creation ranking into a defensible business asset.
If your team is building software or apps and hasn't had an IP conversation yet, a top-10 global ranking is a good reason to have it now, not after a dispute.
Source: World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Global Innovation Index 2026 — Pakistan Economy Profile