Year on Year Changes Top 5% of Innovation Cities Index (Chart)
Director Christopher Hire presenting the Innovation Cities Index results at CDO Data Conference
AI: The Secret Weapon in Europe's Innovation Race as U.S. in 3-Way Global Challenge with Europe, Asia & Mid-East. 16th Annual 500 City Ranking Updated Results
Innovation is largely city-based, while nations struggle it is people and enterprises in cities that innovate. Meaning that innovation challenges can arrive from all over the globe.— Christopher Hire, Director
BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA, April 10, 2023 /
EINPresswire.com/ -- Tokyo has once again topped the 16th annual list of the
world’s most innovative cities, beating past winners London and New York to the title. The Japanese capital has secured the top spot for the second consecutive year, with the same placings as it first achieved in 2018.
According to city data provider 2ThinkNow, which uses data science to produce the annual city ranking, a city requires strong cultural assets to be a top 1% winning city repeatedly in the current climate. Beyond technology, the Japanese capital also has a burgeoning food, music, and cultural creative scene, boosting its cultural assets.
Other cities to make it to the top one percent were Paris (4), which has seen a post-lockdown resurgence in creativity, and Singapore (5), which has been a rock-steady perennial performer. Singapore has held similar positions year-on-year regardless of the trends on which the Index is calculated, making the city highly resilient.
This year saw two European cities in the top five, two Asian cities, and only one North American city, a rare feat. Notably in 2018, four of the five top cities globally were from the United States.
This year’s ranking, which judges cities on
162 indicators each year including technology, economic, social, smart, workforce, cultural, and sustainability indicators, has seen some surprising results.
Meanwhile, Madrid (19) narrowly beat its grand rival Barcelona (26) for the first time in several years, and Lisbon (60) shot up 98 places since Covid-19 on the back of favourable tech and golden-visa programs.
European capitals bounced back faster after the lifting of Covid-19 measures, thanks to the hidden benefits of the pandemic, which include an increase in the speed of digitalization and remote work. This has meant that more people are working in Europe for global companies.
Rising levels of workforce digital skills in some European cities may continue to erode the long-held United States digital advantage.
The top ten European results this year were London, Paris, Berlin (11), Stockholm (13), Munich (16), Vienna (17), Madrid, Amsterdam (20), Barcelona, and Milan (27). In many cases, these were the highest ranks the cities had achieved in the last five years, partly due to a weakening U.S. result.
According to Christopher Hire, director of 2ThinkNow, “There are new green shoots of growth across Europe, despite local and national issues. Advances in applying Artificial Intelligence remain a bright spot, as it is an enabling tool for innovation if used correctly. A.I. could unleash torrents of innovation.”
Notably, all of the top five winning cities had dominant Artificial Intelligence (AI) tech sectors, as well as strong robotics programs.
Broader European region results have been particularly interesting, with European cities bouncing back for innovation for the first time in years as US cities receded. During the pandemic, there were only 22 broader European cities in the top hundred, marking a long-term reduction in European representation over several years. This number of cities has now risen to 37 European capitals, marking the largest ever growth in European representation in one year for innovation.
For current European Union members, there were 28 cities in the top hundred, compared with only 16 at the height of the pandemic. And it’s higher than 26 in 2019. (In all cases excluding United Kingdom cities.)
This European improvement has come largely at the expense of North American cities, as Asia and the Mid-East strengthen, and more Latin American cities challenge.
Many US cities, such as Boston (7), San Diego (37), Newark (50), and Tampa (69), have seen strong but subdued results, in part due to ongoing socio-economic, banking and urban problems under the Biden administration. Silicon Valley (9) bounced back largely due to a burgeoning A.I. sector, despite strong socio-economic headwinds.
In Canada, Toronto (15) returned to form ahead of a resurgent Vancouver (29), and Quebec City (84) rose 113 places in a highly positive result for French-speaking Canada.
Mid-Eastern capitals of Dubai (14) and Doha (162) also rose rapidly, with Dubai closing in on the global top ten for the first time, thanks to its economic diversification, favourable infrastructure and tech programs. Doha saw one of the largest rises in history, due to realising benefits of infrastructure investment and a highly successful World Cup campaign.
Mexico City (61) became one of the highest ranked Latin American cities ever, ahead of Buenos Aires (62). Both were large beneficiaries of the digitalisation of the workforce globally.
“The United States is under rapid innovation challenge from three directions: Asia, Europe and now the Mid-East. Despite aggressive leads in many fields, there does not seem always to be home ground advantage to U.S. corporations,” Hire added.
“Nobody should bet against the U.S. ability to pivot, so in the long-run competition is good for accelerating innovation. Provided that we avoid insisting that ideas ‘fit the curve’ of existing practice, and instead let data drive decisions. Innovation is largely lead by mind-set.”
In Asia, Seoul (8) challenged Singapore, while Beijing (28) remained strong, ahead of Osaka (35).
Rising Australia and New Zealand capitals saw Brisbane (38) move upward steadily, along with Perth (63). Auckland (77) saw a massive bounce-back on the back of easing Covid-19 measures.
2ThinkNow’s authoritative ranking is one of the most comprehensive of its type in the world. The algorithmic ranking enables researchers a means to measure cities innovation conditions. According to the research, higher conditions for innovation are tied to lower unemployment and higher income for cities over time, as well as culturally more successful cities that attract talent.
The rankings are available on
www.innovation-cities.com/city-rankings
Annual results are used by researchers in over 180 countries each year. In addition to valuable data on innovation, 2ThinkNow city rankings help listed
innovative city governments throughout the world assess and plan their own performance over time. The underlying indicators, data and benchmarks used are available for purchase and commercial use.
Christopher Hire
2ThinkNow
+1 669-241-3435
media@2thinknow.com
Director Christopher Hire presenting the Innovation Cities Index results at CDO Data Conference