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 released by the World Intellectual Property Organization on Tuesday.
Tokyo-Yokohama, San Jose-San Francisco, Seoul and Beijing followed in the rankings.
A government spokesman welcomed the ranking, saying it reaffirmed the Greater Bay Area’s “outstanding innovative capacity” and its strong financing ecosystem for innovation and technology (I&T).
He said the city would “proactively align with the national 15th five-year plan to strengthen its strategic positioning” as an international I&T centre.
The government would also deepen collaboration across the bay area – which refers to Beijing’s initiative to turn Hong Kong, Macau and nine mainland cities into an integrated hi-tech economic powerhouse – to help build a modern industrial system and support national technological self-reliance, he said.