Innovation Cities™ Emerging Index 2012-2013

All of the most recent city rankings here. (Or, all years)

Mid-East, Africa and Emerging city innovation classifications and rankings, 2012-2013.

World’s largest city classification and global ranking with 33 Emerging cities from 450 benchmark cities classified, and top cities ranked in 2012. Based on 2thinknow analysis of cities on 162 city indicators, in what our analysts term the ‘global innovation economy’. Annual city scores and ranking since 2007. City indicators data from 2thinknow City Benchmarking Data program.

2012-13 INDEXES > TOP 100 | AMERICAS | EUROPE | ASIA | EMERGING | GLOBAL | ALL YEARS

View current Media Release + Read the 2012-2013 FAQ

Global Rank City State Country Region Sub Region Classification Index Score
34 Dubai United Arab Emirates EMERGING MID-EAST 1 NEXUS 50
68 Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates EMERGING MID-EAST 2 HUB 47
119 Cape Town South Africa EMERGING AFRICA 2 HUB 45
Kiev Ukraine EMERGING EURASIA 3 NODE 42
Lviv Lviv Oblast Ukraine EMERGING EURASIA 3 NODE 42
Jeddah Saudi Arabia EMERGING MID-EAST 3 NODE 41
Doha Qatar EMERGING MID-EAST 3 NODE 41
Odessa Odessa Oblast Ukraine EMERGING EURASIA 3 NODE 40
Adana Adana Turkey EMERGING MID-EAST 3 NODE 40
Ankara Turkey EMERGING MID-EAST 3 NODE 40
Kharkov Kharkiv Oblast Ukraine EMERGING EURASIA 4 INFLUENCER 39
Kuwait City Kuwait EMERGING MID-EAST 4 INFLUENCER 39
Beirut Lebanon EMERGING MID-EAST 4 INFLUENCER 38
Durban South Africa EMERGING AFRICA 4 INFLUENCER 38
Izmir Turkey EMERGING MID-EAST 4 INFLUENCER 38
Cairo Egypt EMERGING MID-EAST 4 INFLUENCER 38
Amman Jordan EMERGING MID-EAST 4 INFLUENCER 37
Donetsk Donetsk Oblast Ukraine EMERGING EURASIA 4 INFLUENCER 37
Sevastopol Sevastopol Ukraine EMERGING EURASIA 4 INFLUENCER 37
Casablanca Morocco EMERGING AFRICA 4 INFLUENCER 37
Dnepropetrovsk Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Ukraine EMERGING EURASIA 4 INFLUENCER 37
Simferopol Crimea Ukraine EMERGING EURASIA 4 INFLUENCER 36
Alexandria Egypt EMERGING MID-EAST 4 INFLUENCER 36
Muscat Oman EMERGING MID-EAST 4 INFLUENCER 36
Baku Azerbaijan EMERGING EURASIA 4 INFLUENCER 36
Rabat Morocco EMERGING AFRICA 4 INFLUENCER 35
Zaporozhye Zaporizhia Oblast Ukraine EMERGING EURASIA 4 INFLUENCER 35
Riyadh Saudi Arabia EMERGING MID-EAST 5 UPSTART 34
Johannesburg South Africa EMERGING AFRICA 5 UPSTART 34
Bursa, Turkey Bursa Turkey EMERGING MID-EAST 5 UPSTART 33
Tbilisi Georgia EMERGING EURASIA 5 UPSTART 32
Algiers Algeria EMERGING AFRICA 5 UPSTART 31
Addis Ababa Ethiopia EMERGING AFRICA 5 UPSTART 30
Bishkek Kyrgyzstan EMERGING EURASIA -- 29
Manama Bahrain EMERGING MID-EAST -- 29
Almaty Kazakhstan EMERGING EURASIA -- 28
Karachi Pakistan EMERGING EURASIA -- 28
Nairobi Kenya EMERGING AFRICA -- 28
Dar es Salaam Tanzania EMERGING AFRICA -- 28
Port Louis Mauritius EMERGING AFRICA -- 27
Minsk Belarus EMERGING EURASIA -- 27
Lahore Pakistan EMERGING EURASIA -- 26
Luanda Angola EMERGING AFRICA -- 26
Dakar Senegal EMERGING AFRICA -- 26
Lagos Nigeria EMERGING AFRICA -- 25
Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo EMERGING AFRICA -- 20
Kabul Kabul Afghanistan EMERGING EURASIA -- 18

Innovation Classifications.

All cities are graded into award categories based on their band score. In descending order of importance to the innovation economy:

NEXUS: Critical nexus for multiple economic and social innovation segments

HUB: Dominance or influence on key economic and social innovation segments , based on global rends

NODE: Broad performance across many innovation segments, with key imbalances

INFLUENCER: Competitive in some segments, potential or imbalanced

UPSTART: Potential steps towards relative future performance in a few innovation segments.

Regional Classifications.

Regions are defined as follows:

AMERICAS: North and South America

EUROPE: The U.N. defined Europe with European union, Western Russia, Israel and some Turkish cities

ASIA: Asia and Oceania (Australia/NZ)

EMERGING: Mid-East, Africa, Turkey and Caucasus states.

There are further sub regions divisions since 2012, and the Index can also be analyzed this way.

Full details.

Purchase City Benchmarking Data: All data for a single city or a mix of indicators to compare cities.

Read the analyst city report to understand the underlying framework and thinking.

Or select a Service Package for a package of analysis on cities.

Methodology in brief.

The Index is the most comprehensive city ranking and scoring. Each city was selected from 1,540 cities based on basic factors of health, wealth, population, geography as well as potential relative to peers. The final 450 cities had data extracted the city benchmarking data program on 162 indicators, and this was reduced to 445 published cities. Each of the benchmarking data was scored by analysts using best available qualitative analysis and quantitative statistics (see City Benchmarking Data to purchase city data).

Underlying data was then balanced against current global trends, by analysts to form a simplified 3 factor score for Cultural Assets, Human Infrastructure and Networked Markets. For city classification, these scores were competitively graded into 5 bands (Nexus, Hub, Node, Influencer, Upstart) based on how broad based (multiple indicators) the city performance was.

The top 30% of cities in the Nexus and Hub were ranked by analysts based on comparison of current innovation potential.

From this global Index 4 regional indexes for Americas, Europe, Asia and Emerging are then also produced.

Please note the full list above is classified (Node, Influencer, Upstart) not ranked except where a rank is noted. Rankings are just for general information. A node ranking is considered globally competitive. More discussion and questions answered in this  FAQ.

For more details on methodology, please see the FAQ or order the Innovation Cities Analysis Report.

Reproduction of this list.

The indexes and supporting materials are copyright and used under license by 2thinknow. You may reproduce the statistics and indexes in any reasonable form, graphics, or data mash-up as long as you attribute it to 2thinknow and do not modify the numbers or otherwise mislead. The easy correct way to do this is as follows:

Source: 2thinknow Innovation Cities™ Index 2012-2013: www.innovation-cities.com [or the link of the page you are referencing]

2thinknow do reserve all rights, including the right to ask content to be removed.

About 2thinknow Innovation Cities™ Program.

Based in Melbourne Australia, 2thinknow are the world’s first innovation agency. Established 2006 we have  designed original  models to measure and deliver innovation to cities, business seeking new markets and growth, and NGO/government clients.

2thinknow Innovation Cities™ Program to provide powerful tools for creating an innovation economy. This includes the City Benchmarking Data™ details on cities by segment globally, recently launched local innovation forum events, analyst reports such as the flagship Innovation Cities™ Analysis Report. In the Innovation Course, we are teaching our clients new innovation methods and practices. 2thinknow work with other clients through innovation consulting, analyst reports, projects  and innovation services, as well as a number of online resources and groups.

2thinknow have published the Innovation Cities™ Indexes city rankings free online since 2007.

This is now 445 cities in the 2012 year, and is the world’s largest and most diverse city ranking.

Contact 2thinknow here: http://innovation-cities.com/enquire/ or via twitter @2thinknow