FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - July 28th, 2009 12.00PM AEST. The 2thinknow 'Innovation Cities Index 2009', the largest independent ranking & scoring of 256 cities for innovation worldwide, will be released by the global innovation agency later today in Melbourne, Australia.
"Cities such as Boston, Paris, Hamburg, Tokyo, New York, London, Berlin, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Melbourne, Zurich, Singapore, Hong Kong, Stockholm, Minneapolis, Toronto, Abu Dhabi... all place in the top 50 in this ranking of future innovation. Innovation Cities are where we will find the political, economic, regulatory, engineering & cultural responses to environmental & economic challenges cities face now," Christopher Hire, Executive Director of Innovation at 2thinknow said this morning.
"The solutions of the past won't work - what we'll need is innovation within markets of significant size." Hire emphasized.
"According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD] Innovation was critical to economies such as South Korea & Finland to recover from previous recessions. And Innovation now takes 2 to 15 years to translate into economic results such as jobs and wealth for cities."
In assessing innovation, 2thinknow took the broadest view of 162 Innovation Indicators balancing socio-cultural & sustainability factors with strengths in manufacturing, economics, infrastructure, engineering & science within the context of trends over the next 2-15 years, producing a ranking both contrarian and controversial.
"Unlike Livability surveys, 2thinknow unique Trend Analysis techniques also examine critical political, market & infrastructure factors to examine which cities have the 'innovation assets' now based on current trends - to do well over a mid-term of the next 2-15 years," Christopher Hire continued.
"Innovation now, will create the economic & social powerhouse cities of the future. All cities have the chance, but each city must address the challenges of innovation differently based on their relative strengths," Hire concluded.
Public release of the first stage of the Innovation Cities Index 2009 will be on the www.innovation-cities.com website Tuesday 28th July 4.00pm AEST - as part of a global release on the same day. The research was started in 2005, and this is the 3rd and largest Innovation Cities rankings. The first 2007 Index has a track record, previously predicting the decline in importance of global finance cities as the sole industry that matters, and the rise of the French economy - later acknowledged in the Economist magazine & Harvard Business Review in June 2009. Earlier today, listeners to ABC Radio Australia 'Breakfast Club' program received a sneak peek of the city rankings. 2thinknow, global innovation agency specialising in 'independent innovation analysis' is originator of the research, and more information is available on the company and it's advisory services at www.2thinknow.com MEDIA CONTACT: Christopher Hire, Executive Director of Innovation, 2thinknow Phone 2thinknow: +61 3 9225 5284 Twitter: @christopherhire