Hong Kong and Mainland Cities Retain World’s Top Innovation Hub Crown
The Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster ranked first in the 2026 Global Innovation Index by WIPO for the second consecutive year.
Quick Look
The Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster ranked as the world’s top innovation hub for the second consecutive year in the 2026 Global Innovation Index by WIPO.
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Why It Matters
The Global Innovation Index is released annually by the World Intellectual Property Organization to identify global concentrations of innovation activity.
A cluster comprising Hong Kong and two mainland Chinese cities has been ranked the world’s top innovation hub for the second consecutive year by a United Nations body.
The Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster retained its crown in the 2026 Global Innovation Index (GII) released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on Tuesday.
Tokyo-Yokohama, San Jose-San Francisco, Seoul and Beijing followed in the rankings.
A government spokesman welcomed WIPO’s ranking, saying it reaffirmed the Greater Bay Area’s “outstanding innovative capacity” and its strong financing ecosystem for innovation and technology.
He said the city would “proactively align with the national 15th five-year plan to strengthen its strategic positioning” as an international innovation and technology (I&T) centre.
The government would also deepen collaboration across the bay area – which refers to Beijing’s initiative to integrate Hong Kong and Macau with nine mainland Chinese cities into a hi-tech economic powerhouse – to help build a modern industrial system and support national technological self-reliance, he said.
The GII ranking identifies local concentrations of world-class innovation activity using three key metrics: international patent filings via WIPO, scientific publications, and venture capital deals.
Open Questions
- What specific patent and venture capital metrics secured the top ranking?
- How will the 15th five-year plan impact regional funding?
