In the second Smart Centres Index (SCI 2), New York takes the top spot from London, while Singapore holds third place.
The top 10 centres in SCI 2 are all in countries with a high performing university sector across the fields of Engineering & Technology, and Mathematics, each having multiple universities rated in the top 20 worldwide in these subjects. A strong research and teaching base is important in building a technology and innovation culture.
An interesting point in the results is the high ratings of Oxford and Cambridge in the UK, which may highlight the importance of clustering, with these cities along with London forming a close network of academic and business development and collaboration.
Index Results
- Three of the top ten places in the ranking are taken by US centres, and three are taken by UK centres, with Oxford and Cambridge rising in this edition of the index.
- The leading centres are strong across all three of the SCI dimensions - Innovation Support, Creative Intensity, and Delivery Capability.
- Despite the dominance of US and Western European centres, Chinese contenders strengthen, and centres such as Singapore, Tel Aviv, or Dubai show that in the future, centres will be more evenly distributed across the globe.
The top 20 ranked centres in SCI 2 are shown in the table below:
Full details of SCI 2 can be found at www.smartcentresindex.net
Professor Michael Mainelli, Executive Chairman of Z/Yen said: “Innovation for its own sake is worthless. The goal is to improve society and the economy by addressing the challenges we face together. Through the Smart Centres Index, we are detecting deep changes around the world as smart centres proliferate, expand, specialise, and integrate with increasing rapidity. We look forward to the continued success of cities and innovation clusters across the world and to the increase in collaboration for success.”
We invite all those with an interest in the development of innovation centres to take part in SCI 3 by rating the financial and commercial centres you know here – smartcentresindex.net/survey/.
