PHL among fastest-growing economies in intangible investment, WIPO says

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

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 from 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 USD 49.1 billion in intangible investments in 2022.

The 2026 edition marks the Philippines’ first appearance in the WIIH, one of only two economies added this year alongside Canada, reflecting the increasing recognition of the country’s knowledge-based economy.

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.

That rebound marked the third-fastest growth rate among the sample’s 15 largest economies, behind only India at 7.9% and Japan at 4.8%, and ahead of the United States at 4.4%.

The report frames the momentum against a stage of development in which physical infrastructure still leads. Over the same 2012-to-2022 decade, the country’s tangible investment grew faster, at 7.2%, consistent with a large-scale infrastructure build-out.

Philippine gross capital formation rose from 21% of GDP in 2021 to nearly 25% in 2022, based on WIPO Global Innovation Index data cited in the report.

Intangible assets, which include organizational knowledge, 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 report notes that global investment in intangible assets has been growing more than three times faster than tangible investment since 2008, 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 USD 10 trillion mark and achieved an all-time high, with the United States, Japan, and Germany leading in absolute size.

Among the categories of intangible assets, R&D posted the fastest growth in the Philippines at a 20.1% CAGR between 2012 and 2022, the strongest R&D growth rate in the entire 29-economy sample.

Software and databases followed at 18.3%, likewise the fastest expansion in that category across all economies surveyed, ahead of Romania at 15.2%.

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.

Between 2010 and 2022, R&D’s share of the country’s intangible investment more than doubled to 5.5%, while software and databases grew to 9.4%.

Even so, the country’s R&D share remained smaller than those of fellow middle-income economies, at 12.7% in India and 6.6% in Brazil.

Organizational capital remained the country’s largest intangible asset, accounting for 48.3%, the highest share of any economy in the sample, followed by brands at 28.9%.

Growth in these larger categories was more moderate, with brands expanding at 4.8% annually, design at 2.7%, and organizational capital at 1.4% between 2012 and 2022.

The latest edition 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 USD 1.4 trillion, with the Philippines ranking among the world’s top 12 at USD 14.2 billion, behind Canada at USD 30.5 billion and alongside high-income economies such as Sweden and Denmark.

The report also observes that some middle-income economies, including the Philippines, reach advertising and brand intensity comparable to that of high-income economies at substantially lower income levels, reflecting rapid catch-up and deliberate efforts to build reputation in markets.

In absolute terms, the country’s intangible investment in 2022 ranked just behind Portugal, which recorded USD 52 billion.

As a share of GDP, tangible investments in the Philippines continued to dominate at 20%, while intangibles accounted for 4.4%.

The country’s intangible intensity of 4.4% in 2022 was up from 4% in 2010, though the report cautions that the Philippine figure is measured against total GDP, including the informal sector.

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 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,” 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 figures were contained in the WIIH 2026 report, cited in a press statement from IPOPHL. (With reports from Rawl Maliwat, IPOPHL Communications & Marketing Writer)