The Innovation Cities™ Index by 2thinknow is the most comprehensive global classification of cities as urban innovation economies. It has been compiled by 2thinknow since it's pre-release version in 2007. 2thinknow is the first innovation agency in the cities profession, established 2006, and has visited cities from Budapest to Barcelona to Boston. The Innovation Cities™ Index is referred to by cities worldwide, and featured by news & business media including the Reuters, Boston Globe, NY Times (Freakonomics), Entrepreneur, Fox News, Forbes, Fortune, public radio stations -- as well as in governmental, municipal and public sector journals such as Municipal World and Public Sector Digest.
Go to > July 2011 Update -- more information here
Cities Index results in brief
Only 10% of cities (exact cohort varies based on score cut-off, in current global conditions as at Q3, 2011) achieve high-level Nexus status, with above benchmark Hub status for the next approx. 30% being sought after. As a city, each developed city needs to be a competitive Node status. Emerging cities aspire to Influencer and Upstart status. Nexus and Hub Cities are ranked in the Top 100. 2010's top 100 are here.
What's new in 2011.
Featuring 311+ cities in 2011 (up from 289 cities), the index includes more Chinese / Asian cities this year, and more cities from all continents -- including new Canadian, U.S., European, South American and emerging capitals. These are classified into 4 regions: Americas, Europe, Asia, and Emerging. As an index it is general classification city ranking for innovation, that is referred to by cities worldwide. The underlying data used is actual city performance data from the 2thinknow city benchmarking data program. The Innovation Cities Index 2011 will be released late in Q3, 2011. This is the 5th year of release, 2nd year of final methodology release, and 3rd year of full data release. Questions about purchasing data or media usage welcome here. Keep innovating, 2thinknow.