Clarivate, a global leader in transformative intelligence, today unveiled the 15th edition of its Top 100 Global Innovators, highlighting organizations that consistently deliver high-impact inventions and shape the future of innovation. The 2026 report underscores a major shift: leadership is moving from sheer scale to precision, with artificial intelligence (AI) emerging as the engine of transformation.
The Top 100 Global Innovators set the standard for invention quality, originality, and global reach, capturing a disproportionate share of the world’s most valuable ideas. This year’s ranking emphasizes that strategic precision, not volume, defines true innovation leadership, with AI at the forefront of this evolution.
“Recognition as a Top 100 Global Innovator is a remarkable achievement given the pace of change and in the 2026 edition, we feature 16 all-time recipient organizations,” said Maroun S. Mourad, President, Intellectual Property,
Clarivate. “Multi-year winners and new entrants are investing in AI innovation as it redefines the boundaries between research, engineering and commercial execution. The leaders we celebrate today are not just responding to this shift, they are designing for it.”
The report shows AI is no longer a side story—it is now integral to innovation. AI-related patent filings have repeatedly doubled since 2019, with over one million invention specifications published by mid-2025. Generative AI and deep learning are now the fastest-moving technology frontiers. Within this landscape, the Top 100 accounts for 16% of the world’s strongest AI inventions, proving that leadership today demands both quality and strategic clarity.
Japan continues to dominate the innovation landscape, contributing 32 organizations and five of the top 10 ranked positions, followed by Mainland China and South Korea with two each, and the United States with one. Other top contributors include the U.S. (18), Taiwan (12), and Germany and South Korea (eight each). Countries showing growth include Mainland China and the Netherlands, while Ireland and Saudi Arabia return to the list this year.
Key highlights from 2026 include -- Samsung Electronics retains the #1 global innovator spot; first-time Top 100 winners: Aptiv, CXMT, GE Vernova, Silicon Motion, Subaru, ZTE; eturning entrants: Apple, KLA, LG Display, Saudi Aramco, Signify, TCL Technology.
Also, 16 all-time recipients maintaining status: Boeing, Dow, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Honda, Honeywell, LG Electronics, NEC, Panasonic, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Shin-Etsu Chemical, Sony, Toshiba, Toyota.
The Top 100 Global Innovators rankings are powered by the Clarivate Center for IP and Innovation Research, which uses the proprietary Derwent Strength Index, derived from the Derwent World Patents Index (DWPI), to evaluate the influence, success, and rarity of inventions and the organizations driving them.
