THE Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster ranked second on the 2024 Global Innovation Index (GII), according to a pre-release by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on Tuesday. The 2024 GII will be officially released Sept. 26.

This is the fifth consecutive year that the cluster has maintained its second-place position among the world’s 100 science and technology clusters. The Tokyo-Yokohama cluster in Japan took the top spot.

Published yearly by WIPO, the GII ranks countries by their capacity for, and success in, innovation. The index uses data on patent applications and scientific publications, among other indicators, to identify leading geographical areas of innovation.

According to a Xinhua report, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster filed 2,303 patent cooperation treaty (PCT) applications per million inhabitants over the five years ending in 2023 and had 3,469 scientific publications per million people from 2018 to 2022.

Among the top 10 clusters on this year’s index, seven are in Asia and three in the United States. The San Jose-San Francisco cluster in California ranked sixth on the index and was the highest-ranking U.S. cluster.

“Science and technology clusters serve as the foundation of robust national innovation ecosystems,” said Daren Tang, director general of WIPO. “It is encouraging to see these clusters thriving not just in the mature hubs of industrialized nations, but also in the emerging innovation hotspots of select developing economies.”

Among the top 100 sci-tech clusters, those located in middle-income economies have experienced significant technological growth, with Chinese clusters showing the most rapid increase in tech output, according to a Shenzhen Special Zone Daily report yesterday.

According to the pre-release, China leads the 2024 index with 26 clusters among the top 100, two more than last year. The Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster is followed by Beijing at No. 3, the Shanghai-Suzhou cluster at No. 5, and Nanjing at No. 9.

Shenzhen’s total social research and development investment reached 188.05 billion yuan (US$28.5 billion) last year, marking double-digit growth for the eighth year running. (Claudia Wei)