Innovation clusters are geographic concentrations of interconnected companies, universities, research institutes, and other organisations that collaborate to accelerate technological progress, patent filings, and scientific publications. These hubs create powerful synergies that speed up innovation and drive local and national economic growth.
Insights from the Global Innovation Index 2025:
Each year, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) ranks the top 100 science and technology clusters in its Global Innovation Index 2025. The ranking uses indicators such as Patent Cooperation Treaty applications and Scopus-indexed scientific articles, adjusted for cluster size and research intensity. The GII 2025, published in September 2025, reveals a shifting global landscape with Asia and China in particular gaining ground.
Historically, Silicon Valley (San Jose–San Francisco) dominated the list, but recent years have seen a clear pivot towards Asia. This shift reflects massive R&D investment, deep talent pools, and targeted government policies such as China’s innovation-driven development strategies and the legacy of the Made in China 2025 programme.
In GII 2025, China reached a major milestone by entering the top 10 economies for innovation, ranking 10th out of 139. The country’s strengths in knowledge creation, technology outputs, and business sophistication underpinned this rise. China also led the S&T cluster rankings for the third consecutive year with 24 clusters in the top 100, ahead of the United States with 22 clusters.
For the first time, the Shenzhen Hong Kong Guangzhou cluster has topped the global list, overtaking the Tokyo–Yokohama region, which placed second, and the San Jose San Francisco hub, which ranked third.
This Greater Bay Area cluster excels in digital communications and electronics, benefiting significantly from regional integration and hosting major industry giants such as Huawei, Tencent, and DJI. China’s dominance is further highlighted by the strong performance of its other leading clusters: Beijing ranked fourth, with a focus on AI and digital communications, while Shanghai–Suzhou secured sixth place, driven by advancements in computing and biotechnology. Other notable rankings include Nanjing in fifteenth place, Hangzhou in eighteenth, and Chengdu in twenty-ninth.
China’s dominance is reflected in a surge of high‑value invention patents, totalling 2.29 million by 2025, and in open‑source AI activity, where China accounted for over 17% of global downloads, surpassing the US at 15.8%. These gains are driven by sustained R&D spending exceeding 3% of GDP, talent attraction policies and cluster-specific incentives. Nonetheless, challenges remain, including geopolitical tensions and intellectual property concerns that could affect future collaboration and technology transfer.