Measuring Investment in Intangible Assets

Intangible assets are key drivers of innovation, productivity and economic growth. Despite their importance, our understanding of the size and impact of intangible assets remains limited due to gaps and lags in the available data. More timely data with better coverage beyond high-income economies is essential to help inform pro-growth policies.

To address these knowledge gaps, the WIPO-LBS Partnership on Intangible Assets in the Global Economy aims to generate up-to-date global estimates of investment in intangible assets.

Up-to-date statistics on investment in intangible assets, especially with an improved coverage of low- and middle-income economies, can be used to inform pro-growth national policies.
Furthermore, this data can help researchers and entrepreneurs alike understand the links between intangible assets and economic performance, not only across countries but also within companies and sectors.
Better metrics are also crucial for improving innovation finance, including intellectual property-backed innovation finance.

The measurement of intangible assets poses several challenges. The “non-physical” nature of intangible assets makes them intrinsically hard to measure and report. Moreover, many intangible asset types, such as brands or design, are still not recognized as investment under national accounting frameworks.
The existing data also suffers from gaps in coverage and time lags, especially outside high-income economies.
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Launch of the World Intangible Investment Highlights 2025

World Intangible Investment Highlights

Co-published by WIPO & Luiss Business School, the World Intangible Investment Highlights serve as the key reference publication for the latest statistics on global investment in intangible assets encapsulated in the Global INTAN-Invest Database.
This publication offers up-to-date, cross-country measures of global investment in intangible assets (such as research and development, software, data, brands, design, and organizational capital), representing a significant advancement for evidence-based policymaking.

World Intangible Investment Highlights

Intangible Assets in the Global Economy: Better Data for Better Business and Policy

To address the knowledge gaps in measuring intangible investment, WIPO’s IP and Innovation Ecosystems Sector (IES), Department for Economics and Data Analytics has established a program of work on Intangible Assets in the Global Economy.

In partnership with Luiss Business School, this program aims to produce timely estimates of intangible investment in high-income as well as middle-income economies, starting with India and Brazil.

The results of this work are released annually through the World Intangible Investment Highlights report, presenting the key global trends in intangible investment. The underlying data is released in the form of the Global INTAN-Invest Database.

In addition, the project also includes technical capacity-building efforts aimed to empower countries worldwide to generate this data independently.

World Intangible Investment Highlights

Co-published by WIPO & Luiss Business School, the World Intangible Investment Highlights serve as the key reference publication for the latest statistics on global investment in intangible assets encapsulated in the Global INTAN-Invest Database.
This publication offers up-to-date, cross-country measures of global investment in intangible assets (such as research and development, software, data, brands, design, and organizational capital), representing a significant advancement for evidence-based policymaking.
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Steering Committee members

The Steering Committee convenes leading international organizations to provide strategic direction, ensure alignment with global policy priorities and foster coordinated progress in measuring intangible investment.

Technical Advisory Board

The Technical Advisory Board brings together leading international experts to offer independent methodological guidance and ensure the quality and credibility of the project’s outputs.

Carol Corrado

Georgetown University, United States

Bishawanath Goldar

Jonathan Haskel

Imperial College London, United Kingdom

Tsutomu Miyagawa

Mary O’Mahony

Bart van Ark

Intangible investment insights

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Learn more about measuring intangible investment

Events

Events

Save the date: July 8, 2026 – Global launch of the World Intangible Investment Highlights 2026

The 3rd edition of the World Intangible Investment Highlights (WIIH), co-published annually by WIPO and Luiss Business School, will be launched on July 8, 2026 from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m. CEST during the Sixty-Eighth Series of Meetings of the Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO.

Co-organized by WIPO and Luiss Business School (LBS) under the Partnership on Intangible Assets in the Global Economy, this conference builds on the success of the 2024 and 2025 editions. 

The conference brings together leading academics, policymakers, and industry experts to explore how intangible assets are driving innovation and productivity worldwide. Download the program.

This conference marks the launch of the new Global INTAN-Invest Database. Global INTAN-Invest is the first database providing up-to-date measures of investment in intangible assets for a range of high-income economies as well as low- and middle-income economies, starting with India.

This roundtable, organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Japan Intellectual Property Association (JIPA), will explore how intangible investment is powering innovation and growth in Japan’s innovation landscape.

WIPO-Luiss 3rd Global INTAN-Invest Conference: Better Data for Better Policy (2026)

Co-organized by WIPO and Luiss Business School (LBS) under the Partnership on Intangible Assets in the Global Economy, this conference builds on the success of the 2024 and 2025 editions. 

WIPO – Luiss 2nd Global INTAN-Invest Conference: Better Data for Better Policy (2025)

The conference brings together leading academics, policymakers, and industry experts to explore how intangible assets are driving innovation and productivity worldwide. Download the program.

WIPO – Luiss 1st Global INTAN-Invest Conference: Better Data for Better Policy (2024)

This conference marks the launch of the new Global INTAN-Invest Database. Global INTAN-Invest is the first database providing up-to-date measures of investment in intangible assets for a range of high-income economies as well as low- and middle-income economies, starting with India.
  • 6–7 May, 2024
  • Rome, Italy & online

WIPO-JIPA Industry Roundtable: Powering Innovation and Growth Through Intangible Investment in Japan

This roundtable

, organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Japan Intellectual Property Association (JIPA), will explore how intangible investment is powering innovation and growth in Japan’s innovation landscape.

It is cross-cutting by nature: it links IP with a wide range of public policy areas to enhance coherence and coordination in government law and policy-making.

  • 6–7 May, 2024
  • Rome, Italy & online

Key research on intangible investment

Partner

Luiss Business School

Established in 1987 as the Management School of Luiss University, it was named Luiss Business School in 2006. Over the years, the School has consolidated its leadership into the national market of higher education, with a focus on the development of managerial skills. Thanks to international accreditations – AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA – it is ranked among the global elite of business schools.
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