HK-Shenzhen-Guangzhou cluster named world's top innovation hub

A cluster of three Chinese cities comprising Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou has topped a United Nations ranking of the world's most innovative hubs.

- Magdalene Fung

HONG KONG -

The addition of venture capital deal activity as a new metric in the World Intellectual Property Organisation's (Wipo) Global Innovation Index (GII) cluster study pushed the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou hub to the top spot in 2025, the agency said on Sept 1.

Japan's Tokyo-Yokohama cluster, which topped the 2024 index, fell to second place. San Jose-San Francisco was third, with Beijing ranked fourth, and Seoul, fifth.

The new metric's addition resulted in Singapore rising in the ranking as well, propelling it into the world's top 20 most innovative hubs at 16th place. It was ranked No. 33 in 2024.

The Wipo GII cluster ranking, started in 2017, was previously based on only two key metrics-the numbers of international patent filings and scientific publications written by inventors and authors affiliated with the region.

With the third metric added in 2025—the number of venture capital (VC) deals made by firms in the region—the latest study aims to give a more complete picture of how research translates into start-up creation as well as new goods and services in each economic cluster.

The results "highlight which clusters are turning scientific research into economic results", according to Wipo director-general Daren Tang.

Wipo chief economist Carsten Fink attributed the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster's innovative success to its ability to use each city's strengths in collaborating.

"Hong Kong is particularly well-known for its excellent scientific institutions and universities (while) a lot of the patenting that emerges out of company research development activities originates from companies in Shenzhen," Mr Fink said at a press briefing on Sept 1.