The World Intellectual Property Organization released the preliminary report of the "2024 Global Innovation Index (GII) Report" at the 2024 Singapore Intellectual Property Week on the 27th. The report shows that China's number of the world's top 100 science and technology innovation clusters ranks first in the world for the second consecutive year.
The science and technology innovation clusters in the GII are cities or city clusters. Their ranking is based on two indicators: one is the location of the inventors in the patent applications disclosed by the Patent Cooperation Treaty, and the other is the location of the authors of published scientific papers. The World Intellectual Property Organization counts and ranks these indicators to determine the most active areas of science and technology activity in the world.
The report shows that China has 26 of the world's top 100 science and technology innovation clusters, more than last year's 24. The United States is closely followed by 20, Germany has 8, and India and South Korea have 4 each.
Among the top ten science and technology innovation clusters in the world, 7 are in Asia and 3 are in the United States. The Tokyo-Yokohama city cluster in Japan ranks first, followed by the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou city cluster in China, and Beijing in China ranks third. The San Jose-San Francisco city cluster in California, USA is the most advanced science and technology innovation cluster in the United States, ranking sixth.
Although the ranking of the top ten science and technology innovation clusters has not changed much, the dynamics of the top 100 science and technology innovation clusters indicate that innovation growth in middle-income economies is strong, especially in China. Other middle-income economies such as Cairo in Egypt, Chennai in India and Istanbul in Turkey also performed well.
Daren Tang, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization, said that science and technology innovation clusters are an important foundation of the national innovation ecosystem. These clusters are not only thriving in developed countries, but also gradually emerging in emerging economies. The World Intellectual Property Organization will continue to support these clusters and help them use intellectual property to transform research results into practical solutions.