+(44) 333 800 8090 
Global investment in intangible assets like brands, designs, data and software has grown three times faster over the past 15 years than investment in physical assets like factories and machinery, according to the first-ever World Intangible Investment Highlights.
The report, the result of a partnership between the World Intellectual Property Organisation and Italy’s Luiss Business School (LBS), shows how intangible assets have become increasingly important as drivers of innovation and economic growth around the world.
The report’s authors point out that despite their significant economic impact, traditional measurement frameworks have inadequately captured the size, composition and impact of intangible assets. This new report is based on data from the WIPO-LBS Global INTAN-Invest Database, and offers up-to-date, cross-country measures of intangible investments covering 26 countries accounting for more than half of global GDP. More economies are planned for inclusion in further editions.
The aim of the report is to provide data on the intangible economy to inform national and international policy-making and economic forecasting.
WIPO Director General Daren Tang says: “One game changing but invisible trend in our global economy is the rise of intangible assets as the driver and holder of value in our global economy. Even in the current period of economic uncertainty, intangible investment is thriving and consistently outpacing total tangible investment, surging both in high-income economies like the United States and Europe as well as in fast-emerging economies like India.
“This report underlines the leading role played by intangibles, underpinned by intellectual property (IP), in the global economy and contributes hard data to support evidence-based policymaking for governments around the world seeking innovation-led growth.”
Despite disruptive global crises and rising interest rates, aggregate intangible investment touched US$6.9 trillion in 2023, more than doubling from US$2.9 trillion in 1995. Since 2008, the intangible investment growth rate has tripled that of tangible investment, which rose to US$4.7 trillion in 2023, the report shows.
Sweden, the US and France saw the most-intensive activity over the period under review, while India exhibited the fastest growth in intangible investment between 2011 to 2020, overtaking the growth rates of many high-income economies, and matching the intangible investment intensity of Germany and Japan (as a share of GDP).
The report’s highlight include:
- Leading intangible asset types: Software, data and brands are the fastest growing types of intangible assets.
- Resilience during economic uncertainty: Intangible investment levels have shown greater resilience compared to tangible investment during recent economic downturns, even as higher interest rates have hindered other investment streams.
- Increasing GDP share: Intangible investments make up a growing share of gross domestic product (GDP) in high-income as well as emerging economies, such as India.
- Most–intensive locations: The economies which are most intangible-asset intensive (relative to GDP) are Sweden, the United States (US), and France. Intangible investment in the US, for example, makes up nearly twice the share of GDP as compared to tangible investment in 2023. Among the countries where tangible investment’s share of GDP is higher than that of intangible investment, the gap between the two has been narrowing over time.
- Leading economies (1995-2023): Corporations in the US, France, Germany and the United Kingdom (UK) are top investors in intangible assets, with the US registering by far the highest levels of intangible investment in 2023. France and Germany followed similar trajectories until 2020, after which France’s level of intangible investment surged ahead of Germany’s, making it the European Union leader.
“In today’s rapidly changing business environment, investing in intangible assets is essential for companies to enhance their capabilities to cope with the digital transformation, to adapt quickly, and to stay competitive”, says Cecilia Jona-Lasinio, Professor, Luiss Business School, and co-author of the report, “This is why developing data on intangibles, such as Global-INTAN Invest, is vital for informed policymaking and strategic planning.”
Image: WIPO Geneva Main Lobby Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod
