MEDIA RELEASE: 16th Annual 500 City Ranking – Innovation Cities Index 2022-2023 Released

FURTHER ANALYSIS & RANKINGS

What follows are added regional breakdowns and analysis for each region of the world. The global results are included in brackets (1) after each city name for the regional rankings.

Also following for the first time are comparative rankings for cities in countries belonging to ASEAN, EU 27, G8/G20, GCC and NAFTA blocs.

Europe innovation bounce back

European cities bounced back for innovation for the first time in years, as the United States cities receded.

Previously during the pandemic, there were only 22 European cities in the top hundred. This was part of a long-term reduction in European representation over several years. This number of cities has now in the current year risen to 37 European capitals. This was the largest ever growth in European representation in one year for innovation.

The top ten European results were London (globally, 2), Paris (4), Berlin (11), Stockholm (13), Munich (16), Vienna (17), Madrid (19), Amsterdam (20), Barcelona (26) and Milan (27). Many European capitals bounced back faster after the lifting of Covid-19 measures.

This is due to hidden benefits of the pandemic which include digitalisation and remote work. Meaning that more people are working in Europe for global companies.

Rising levels of workforce digital skills in some European cities may continue to erode the long-held United States digital advantage. The largest falls since prior results were reported in Turkish cities (dual classified in Europe and Mid-East for this ranking). Riga, capital of Latvia, fell the most places, outside of Turkish cities.

Americas

In North America, United States cities continued to largely displace Canadian cities.

In general, many US cities fell this year largely due to inflation and increased reliance on government spending for the economy. This reliance on Congress measures such as was creating bottle necks in the national economy, while the awaited funds arrive.

The top ten cities in 2023 across the United States were as follows: New York (3), Los Angeles (6), Boston (7), San Francisco - San Jose (9), Houston (10), Chicago (12), Seattle (21), Dallas-Fort Worth (22), Atlanta (25) and Miami (31). The bottom ranked United States cities this year were Fargo (358), Cheyenne (359) and Billings (360). Smaller cities continued to lose talent to larger metropolises, as employers insisted on return to the office, with many employees having left their home-towns again.

However, bucking this trend smaller California cities continued to recover since Covid-19, with Sacramento (67), Riverside (73) and Ventura (129) all climbing U.S. rankings.

Canadian cities bounced back after the removal of some pandemic restrictions. The top five Canadian cities were: Toronto (15), Montréal (24), Vancouver (29), Québec City (84) and Hamilton (109). The capital of Ottawa (122) and Calgary (125) in Alberta, regained some places, but fell a place each within Canada. However, while broadly positive, the analysts noted this performance was below the potential of Canadian cities. Proving small cities still had power, Halifax was the most improved, moving up a massive 234 places under the current trends. Proving this was a long-term trend, Halifax had improved 93 places over its 5-year average.

In Latin America, Mexico City (61) continued its long-term improvement, moving up 35 places over its 5-year average. The city had a strengthening economic system, and closer ties to the United States venture capital economy. Buenos Aires (62) placed a close second, largely on its creative merits, trailed by Brazil's sprawling São Paulo (80), Rio De Janeiro (107) and Colombian capital, Bogotá (251). The country had presented a highly visited stand at Dubai Expo 2020, showcasing its regions.

Rival Colombian green city Medellin (294), beat out a tightly-packed group of Peruvian capital Lima (316), Monterrey (326), Santiago, Chile (330) and Cordoba, Argentina (338). While globally not top this year, Medellin improved a massive six places within Latin America. This means as Latin America becomes a preferred remote working location, Medellin should continue to do well if it improves in a broad range of specific areas such as digital skills.

Mid-East, Africa and Eurasia

Unlike other city rankings, the Innovation Cities Index now has the mid-East capital of Dubai 15^th in the world. This puts the desert city in top 3% of all world cities, a first for the Mid-East and Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC). This was followed by a rising Tel Aviv (40), falling Istanbul (75) and Emirati rival Abu Dhabi (75).

The position of Dubai also recognizes massive infrastructure improvements by the Emirates, as well as the tremendous success of the recent Expo 2020 event. A global leader in experimental architecture, entrepreneur friendly tax regimes, quality technology and expatriate lifestyle, Dubai is categorically ahead in the Mid-East. The city now also usurps many European capitals due to the Emirati embrace of innovation.

Perennial startup and cyber-security tsar, Tel Aviv rose, despite recent political troubles. A strong tech industry saw the city climb 14 places against its five-year average. Istanbul (53) followed, falling slightly with a weakening economy. Abu Dhabi (75) has remained more or less steady, at around 4 places above its five-year average. In Saudi Arabia, the cultural city of Jeddah rose 95 places globally, since 2021.

Relative newcomer Doha (162) was the fastest moving Mid-East capital, derived from its strong World cup infrastructure performance (up 247 places, one of the largest moves in history). This included extensive airport upgrades to rival Dubai, sporting, tourism, arts and cultural infrastructure for the event. A raft of policy and physical changes to the city for the football festival saw great improvements. While some of this move was noted by analysts due to data delays during the World Cup, the transformative effects of the Cup have been extensive in terms of ranking.

Egyptian cities maintained some of their pandemic success, falling since 2021, but levelling out well ahead of 2019. The analysts outlook on Cairo (273) and Alexandria (353) remained potentially positive mid-term. The cities were classified in the Mid-East region, but Cairo would have placed first in Africa if included there.

Africa’s woes continued with few top-ranked cities. While South African cities remained top-ranked in the continent due to infrastructure, their position was not assured according to 2ThinkNow. Cape Town (282) remained ahead of Johannesburg (314), Durban (390), and Pretoria (402). Nairobi (418) remained the next best African city, with many other cities affected by currency related volatility and domestic issues. Khartoum (500) in Sudan, remained the lowest ranked city globally.

In Eurasia, despite recent conflict and ongoing military operations, a resilient Kiev (334) managed to beat Karachi (381) in Pakistan. Other Ukrainian cities placed less well than the capital.

Asia and Pacific

Across Asia, Tokyo (1), Singapore (5) and Seoul (8), unsurprisingly were the leaders in Asia region. Economic impacts of Covid-19 measures were less than expected for these tech capitals. The three Asian technology hubs came ahead of Australian capitals Sydney (18) and Melbourne (23).

In China, the Chinese capital of Beijing (28) further developed its lead above Shanghai (46), with both cities now surpassing Hong Kong (58) and Shenzhen (74). Many innovations in China have diffused throughout the country, leaving a relatively consistent scores for innovation nationally.  With the recovery from Covid-19, cities in China are expected to improve further.

Within Japan, the next three cities after Tokyo were Osaka (35), Kyoto (64) and Nagoya (81). The rising importance of Artificial Intelligence and iterative technology improvements boosted Japanese innovation potential. Culturally the Japanese had greater diversity in their arts and cultural scenes than in the past, boosting their cities performance on creative aspects of innovation.

Rising regional power India, saw sprawling Mumbai (105) still ahead of the capital Delhi (179). The city of Mumbai has more technology workers, programmers and associated I.T. professional than many European countries. Tech capital Bangalore (201) remained steady over five years, still ahead of a rapidly rising Hyderabad (292). The recovery from Covid-19 measures and new technologies, saw many Indian cities resume their slow upward trajectory of 13 places on average over the past five years.

In Southeast Asia, other key cities include Busan (108), Bangkok (145) and Kuala Lumpur (163). The worst ranked Asian cities remained Yangon (474) in Burma, and Chittagong (475) in Bangladesh. Despite various elements of a boom the benefits were not distributed in such a way to develop their innovation capability, and broader economy, according to the analysts.

Within Asia, Australian capital cities continue to “punch above their weight” in the region. With stalwart Sydney remaining ahead of Melbourne at this time.

Brisbane (38) and Perth (63) continued their slow and steady rise. Brisbane was up eight places in five years, and Perth 23 places. The continued focus on innovation by Adelaide (101) in recent years lead to an average rise of 29 places, as the city attracted creative citizens throughout the Covid-19 period. Victoria’s Geelong was the fastest growing Australian regional capital of those captured, being up 49 places over 5 years, reinforcing the success of their regional strategy over time.

In the land of the long white cloud, Auckland (77) returned to its pre Covid-19 position. Wellington (166), Christchurch (210) and Queenstown (317) were also slower to bounce back. New Zealand cities moved effectively sideways in the last five years, moving down six places.

The analysts attributed this to the failure of New Zealand federal and local policies to achieve and distribute economic benefits in practice. Most of this failure was felt outside the capital, with the three other cities ranked moving down 19 places since the Ardern government came to power.

The analysts noted though that Christchurch had one of the highest per capita rankings for city innovation anywhere. And therefore, attributed poor performance to New Zealand federal policy settings primarily.

New Global Comparative Rankings

This year, 2ThinkNow have provided a series of international standard groupings for city rankings. These were also released in parallel with the headline Innovation Cities Index.

In the ASEAN innovation rankings for 2023, the first three city places were Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.

In the European Union city rankings, Paris remained on top, however Berlin and Stockholm displaced strong previous contender Munich. London outranked Paris, since leaving the E.U. via the Brexit process.

For the G8 and G20 city rankings the winners were Tokyo, London and New York, mirroring the global results. Paris and Los Angeles were runners-up among the global power houses.

In the gulf, the GCC rankings were perennial winner Dubai, then Abu Dhabi. 2022 saw Doha shoot up to third after successfully organizing the FIFA World Cup. Jeddah also moved up two places to 5^th behind Sharjah. The Emirate of Ajman and Manama, Bahrain both rose in status within the gulf.

In the current NAFTA city rankings, New York, Los Angeles and Boston continued to do well. These cities nudged out a strengthening Silicon Valley on the back of AI startup sectors, despite headwinds. Mexico City shot up to 27, up 67 places in the NAFTA region. Toronto was the top ranked city from Canada, but U.S. cities continued to dominate Trudeau’s federalised Canada. 136 cities were considered from the 3 NAFTA countries.

ADDED QUOTES/COMMENTS FOR PUBLICATION

“This year’s results show that democracy still matters to innovation in global cities, and that openness to ideas is essential. It also shows that innovators still gather in large metropolises despite a positive increase in global remote working for white collar roles” stated Christopher Hire, director of city data provider 2ThinkNow, which publishes the annual city ranking.

“The resilience of the large metropolis cities is quite unexpected,” Hire added.

-- ENDS--

SPOKESPERSON

Mr Christopher Hire
Director Data, 2ThinkNow
+61386780319 +16692413435 +443300270203
media@2thinknow.com (email preferred)

Reproducing the Index

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. Print journalists can attribute in the standard fashion, or the other easy way to do this online is as follows: Source: 2ThinkNow Innovation Cities™ Index: www.innovation-cities.com [or the link of the Index you are referencing]

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

City Tables for Reproduction

2THINKNOW: Global 100 | Global 500
Compare: G8 | G20 | NAFTA | EU-27 | EU+EEA+Sw | ASEAN | GCC
Regions: ANZ | Asia Regio | India | Japan | Europe Regio | UK | Mid-East | Africa | Eurasia | Russia | USA | Latin America | Canada

Global 100 - https://innovation-cities.com/?p=26454

Global 500 - https://innovation-cities.com/?p=26453

G8 - https://innovation-cities.com/?p=26438

G20 - https://innovation-cities.com/?p=26437

NAFTA - https://innovation-cities.com/?p=26442

EU-27 - https://innovation-cities.com/?p=26445

EU+EEA+SW - https://innovation-cities.com/?p=26436

ASEAN - https://innovation-cities.com/?p=26441

GCC - https://innovation-cities.com/?p=26440

ANZ - https://innovation-cities.com/?p=26439

ASIA REGION - https://innovation-cities.com/?p=26505

INDIA - https://innovation-cities.com/?p=26447

JAPAN - https://innovation-cities.com/?p=26448

EUROPE REGIO - https://innovation-cities.com/?p=26444

UK - https://innovation-cities.com/?p=26451

MID-EAST - https://innovation-cities.com/?p=26511

AFRICA - https://innovation-cities.com/?p=26435

EURASIA - https://innovation-cities.com/?p=26452

RUSSIA - https://innovation-cities.com/?p=26450

USA - https://innovation-cities.com/?p=26443

LATIN AMERICA - https://innovation-cities.com/?p=26449

CANADA - https://innovation-cities.com/?p=26508

About the Indicators

There are 162 indicators selected every year from the list of 180+ available here. The list is very comprehensive and covers 31 key industry or government functions. This measures innovation across the broader city economy and society, and the breadth prevents gaming of the algorithms.

The selection of indicators usually only varies 5% year-to-year. New indicators such as Digital Skills were added during the pandemic to reflect the rise of digital workers. Each year several indicators are added and major indicators modified to capture the latest technology in practice.

Data in each of the indicators can be ordered as benchmarks.

Notes to Business

Businesses may wish to improve their decision making by more accurate city data. 2ThinkNow assists insurance, financial, property and other companies with more accurate city level data for global decision making. Data is all available to order to compare any cities. See link.

Data Sources - City Benchmarking Data.

City benchmarking data can be used to create your own indexes or rankings. This can ordered by contacting 2ThinkNow for City Data Audits, or comparisons between any cities on 1 segment or all segments of the economy. There are 31 industry and community segments. Further information is available from 2ThinkNow ICP Team, by contacting us here or calling Melbourne +61 3 86780319. Or, you can visit the City Benchmarking Data site here for full details.

Notes to Governments

Leaders in many cities want to understand the specific factors that impact their innovation conditions. In all capitalist or partly capitalist economies higher rates of innovation link to higher levels of GDP per person and lower unemployment.

Therefore, cities may wish to improve some areas that elevate a city’s overall or relative innovation ranking, or other innovation metrics. 2ThinkNow advises municipalities by using a total approach that examines the barriers to innovation, and opportunities to create innovation.

2ThinkNow also helps municipalities to assess changes that can improve their economy. In a remote world, companies have many choices about where to relocate, and employees can choose where to work from. Thanks to digitalisation, this is all about to go through a major shift. Cities need to be ready as operations are no longer going to follow the same rules of location.

Improvements in innovation conditions can help attract foreign direct investment, raise economic growth (GPD per capita), create jobs and develop innovation.

Quick facts about the Index.

• The worldwide rankings are produced annually by analysts at innovation consulting analysts, 2ThinkNow.
• The index is not a survey, but based on data science & data analysis independently researched by 2ThinkNow analysts.
• The index was first produced in 2007 with 22 cities from 95 profiled.
• City Benchmarking Data, contains all 500 global cities benchmarked on 162 city indicators.
• Approximately 50% of indicators are refreshed annually or more frequently.
• All cities scores are weighted against 10-50 current change trends - that emerge from the data.
• Here's the 2022-2023 Summary of 12 Current trends on Substack - paid newsletter subscribers get the full list

Media Resources: Main Index Page | Media Release | Media Centre