The Smart Centres Index 11: San Francisco And Zurich Storm Ahead In Innovation Race

The Smart Centres Index explores the ability of global commercial centres to create, develop, and deploy technology. Leading centres in the SCI are based in places which combine an innovative, cultural centre with a high-performing university sector across STEM subjects, supported by a well-developed regulatory, commercial, and financial services.

• San Francisco and Zurich took first and second places in the index, overtaking London.
• Five Western European centres feature in the top 10, alongside three US centres.
• Singapore and Tel Aviv also feature in the top 10.
• Eight centres rose 10 or more places in the ranking in SCI 11, while five centres fell 10 or more places.
• The average rating in SCI 11 rose by 0.63% following a fall of 1.07% in SCI 10. The biggest increase in average ratings of 2.49% was in Latin America & The Caribbean, while the average rating for Asia/Pacific fell 0.02%.
• Confidence appears not to be strongly affected by the impact of current geopolitical tensions, and trade disruption, and we will continue to track these effects.
• Assessments in the SCI survey appear to favour centres with strong people skills, including both the leading centres and Oxford and Cambridge, which form a ‘golden triangle’ with London in the UK.

We asked respondents to the SCI survey to identify the areas of technology which are likely to have the most impact on industry over the next five years. Almost a quarter of respondents identified ‘Artificial Intelligence, Digital And Computing’ as likely to have the greatest impact, with ‘Energy And Environmental Technology’, and ‘Robotics’ mentioned by 17% and 15% of respondents respectively.

Full details of SCI 11 can be found at www.smartcentresindex.net

 

Professor Michael Mainelli, Chairman of Z/Yen said:

“With heightened global tensions and rivalries, tech spending is spread across a broad front - from saving lives to defence to the environment. Z/Yen expects yet more volatility among Smart Centre ratings as perturbations change which technologies are favoured and which centres are best placed to develop them.”

We invite all those with an interest in the development of innovation and technology centres to take part in SCI 12 by rating the financial and commercial centres you know on our continuously running survey – smartcentresindex.net/survey/.