The Jordan Economic Forum (JEF) has released a new fact sheet highlighting Jordan’s results in the 2025 Global Innovation Index, revealing that the country achieved its best-ever ranking by reaching 65th globally—an improvement of eight places compared to last year.
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According to the Forum, this progress reflects the impact of government efforts to modernize legislation, develop the business environment, and enhance infrastructure. At the same time, it underscores the urgent need to invest in human capital and fund scientific research as essential inputs to strengthen the competitiveness of the national economy and consolidate Jordan’s position in the global knowledge economy.
The report shows that Jordan ranks 6th among 13 Arab countries, scoring 29.7. While this represents relative progress compared to some Arab economies, it also highlights the gap with leading Arab innovators such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. This disparity stems from differences in investment in human capital, quality education, scientific research, technology, and innovation support policies, placing Jordan in a mid-range position that requires intensified, structured efforts to enhance regional and global competitiveness.
Jordan achieved its historical best in 2025, moving up eight global positions from 2024, out of 139 participating countries, signaling the effectiveness of recent policies—particularly infrastructure development, legislative modernization, and business facilitation. Nevertheless, human capital and research funding remain major challenges due to limited quality education indicators and low R&D investment.
The Forum noted improvements in innovation inputs, especially infrastructure and business environment development, reflecting government efforts to enhance regulatory frameworks and entrepreneurship. Knowledge and technology outputs have grown moderately, driven by increased research productivity and expanded use of modern technologies, while creative outputs remained largely stable—indicating the need for programs to convert creative ideas into marketable products and services.
Jordan’s eight-place gain in the overall index was largely due to improvements in selected sub-indicators, demonstrating the effectiveness of targeted interventions. The Forum emphasized that sustaining this progress requires a comprehensive approach addressing all innovation dimensions to build an integrated environment and strengthen long-term national competitiveness.
Structural gaps in the Jordanian economy still limit the translation of innovation indicator progress into tangible growth. National spending on R&D is only 0.6% of GDP, compared with a global average of 1.9% and over 2.5% in OECD countries. The country has only 1,200 researchers per million people, versus over 4,000 in the EU and more than 7,000 in South Korea, highlighting the urgent need for greater investment in quality education and applied research.
Based on these findings, the Forum offered a comprehensive set of strategic recommendations to boost Jordan’s position in the Global Innovation Index and achieve tangible economic outcomes.
Key recommendations include:
Setting a clear numerical target for Jordan’s index ranking within the second phase of the Economic Modernization Vision (2022–2033), linked to sector-specific performance indicators.
Gradually increasing national R&D spending to match advanced global levels while fostering public-private-academic partnerships.
Establishing joint platforms to fund commercially viable applied research and offering tax incentives for companies that convert research outcomes into value-added products and services.
Developing legal and regulatory frameworks to facilitate patent registration and provide financial and technical support to local innovators.
Amending legislation to allow foreign investors to directly invest in Jordanian startups, ensuring the inflow of capital and expertise.
Activating innovative financing tools, such as venture capital funds, and providing tax and investment incentives to support early-stage innovative projects.
