Beijing is more innovative than New York and London, report says

Beijing JLL Innovation Geographies
Published on: May 21, 2019

Beijing is the fourth most innovative city in the world, ranking ahead of London, New York and Hong Kong, according to real estate consultant JLL.

San Francisco, with its robust tech industry, topped the list of the top 20 innovation-oriented cities published by JLL last week, followed by Tokyo, Singapore, Beijing, and London.

“Beijing now has a deep-rooted innovation ecosystem,” JLL says in its Innovation Geographies report. “It has nurtured the most unicorns outside of Silicon Valley and is the third largest destination for venture capital funding.”

The Chinese government has pledged to develop its major cities into international metropolitans, as part of an overall push to shift away from low-end manufacturing and build an economy driven by consumption and innovation.

The competitiveness of big cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen has grown, thanks to a booming start-up scene and their ability to bring in talents from all across the country.

However, Chinese cities still lag behind their Western peers in luring global businessesand talents. Critics say China’s opaque policymaking process, as well as its controls on information and capital flows, is hindering the attractiveness of Chinese cities.

New York won the 8th place, while China’s own commercial center of Shanghai and the tech hub of Shenzhen ranked 11th and 15th respectively.

The financial center of Hong Kong, where a government-led innovation push has failed to boost the city’s tech sector, did not make the cut into the top 20.

London now leads a separate list of the world’s top 20 talent hotspots, followed by San Francisco, Washington, San Jose, Seattle, and Boston.

Only three cities from Asia Pacific made it to the list, with Sydney in 7th spot; Melbourne at 10th; and Tokyo at 19th.

According to JLL, the rankings were determined based on factors including foreign direct investments in hi-tech industries, research and development expenditure, education level of the population and employment in tech companies.

Source: inkstonenews.com

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