WIPO’s 2025 Global Innovation Index adds venture capital metric to reshape top 100 innovation cluster rankings;  Taipei–Hsinchu at No. 41

　The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has released the “Global Innovation Index 2025” cluster report.  The global top 100 innovation clusters are identified by 3 core metrics, including the number of patent applications filed under the WIPO Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), the volume of published scientific articles, and the 3rd metric introduced in 2025, the venture capital (VC) deals.  These metrics are used by WIPO to assess and geographical concentration of innovation activities worldwide.    

　The GII 2025 ranks nearly 140 economies with respect to their innovative performance and demonstrates each economy’s innovative strengths and weakness.  In the global innovation cluster ranking, “Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou” surpasses “Tokyo-Yokohama” (finishes 2^nd) to top the global rankings.  “San Jose–San Francisco” moves up 3 places to come in 3^rd, ahead of “Beijing” (China) in the 4^th place.  “Seoul” (South Korea), “Shanghai–Suzhou” (China), and “New York City” (the U.S.) follow in 5^th, 6^th, and 7^th place, respectively.  “London’s” overall ranking leaps from 8^th to 21^st due to its strong performance in VC deal activity, ranking 3^rd globally.  Likewise, India “Bangalore” surges from 56^th to 21^st as a result of the same reason.  “Taipei-Hsinchu” secures the 41^st place among the world’s top 100 innovation clusters.  

　The top 100 innovation clusters span 33 economies. The countries having the largest number of innovation clusters are China (24 clusters), the U.S. (22 clusters), Germany (7 clusters), India and the UK (4 clusters each), and Canada, Japan, and South Korea (3 clusters each).  

　In addition to China and India, the middle-income economies having clusters among the top 100 are Brazil “São Paulo” (49^th), Egypt “Cairo” (83^rd , the sole top 100 innovation cluster within Africa), Islamic Republic of Iran “Tehran” (63^rd), Malaysia “Kuala Lumpur” (86^th) and its cluster shared with “Singapore” (16^th), Turkey “Istanbul” (58^th), and Mexico “Mexico City” (79^th).  

　Examined and identified by all three indicators, the innovation clusters’ ranking and corresponding shares are as follows:  In terms of scientific publications, the top three innovation clusters are “Beijing” (accounting for 4% of the global total), “Shanghai–Suzhou” (2.5%), and “Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou” (2.4%).  For PCT applications, the leading clusters are “Tokyo–Yokohama” (10.3%), “Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou” (9%), and “Seoul” (5.4%).  For VC deals (from 2019 to 2023), the top 100 innovation clusters collectively account for around 169,000 VC deals, led by “San Jose–San Francisco” (6.9%), “New York City” (4.5%), and “London” (4.4%).  

　Assessed by innovation intensity per population, the ranking is as follows.  “San Jose–San Francisco” (the U.S.) and “Cambridge” (the U.K.) rank as the world’s most innovation-intensive clusters, followed by “Boston-Cambridge” (the U.S.) and “Ningde” (China), and “Oxford” (the U.K.).  Ningde’s entry into the global top 5 is mainly attributable to the surge in the number of patent applications from Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) in the energy-technology sector.  

　Overall, PCT filing and VC deal activity exhibit a higher degree of geographic concentration compared with scientific publications.  The global top 100 innovation clusters account for about 70% of global PCT filings and VC deal activities but only 50% of global scientific publications.  Among them, the top 10 innovation clusters contribute 40% of global PCT filings and 35% of VC deal activity, but they make up 16% of the scientific publications.  (Released 2025.10.02) 
 /CCS