The 2thinknow Innovation Cities Project goal has always been working to improving the overall Social & Economic Performance of select cities. In 2009, to directly assist in achieving this goal Innovation Cities Concept was divided into 3 distinct entities:

• ONLINE: Innovation Cities Index of 256 (most major) world cities publicly available.
• RESEARCH & ANALYSIS: City Benchmarking Data Single Cities Data-sets to benchmark a city
• CONSULTING: Strategic Innovation City Plans to improve cities

ONLINE: Innovation Cities Index 2009

The goal was to indicate which cities are investing in their innovation assets, the pre-indicators of innovation – and therefore should deliver superior economic & social performance in the mid-term. > 2009 Results

The hypothesis behind this was broadly supported  OECD report into innovation & economic performance of countries – that innovation now typically means economic & social results that show up in 2 to 15 years. 2thinknow are the first to examine & expand this at a city-level.

Unlike other measures (eg. McKinsey) our Index doesn’t assume patents or R&D alone, equals inventions but view each city on relative strengths and industries. This allows better representation of industries not driven by solely scientific patents (patents aren’t cross-industry, often being not recommended by IP lawyers as damaging some IP).

In 2009, the selection, scoring, benchmarking & analysis methodology of the Index were reviewed and changed to better meet this goal.

ANALYSIS: City Benchmarking Data.

Designed to measure city on traditional & non-traditional indicators at a level of detail that is meaningful for change in strategic planning & city design, and fill the gap for the the lack of good truly comparative city data for analysis.

2thinknow City Benchmarking Data for 256 Cities be used to benchmark each cities performance against equivalent cities. This can focus on specific identified strengths such as manufacturing, Green tech, tourism or another area. This data can also be compiled at the level of cities, countries, regions, trade blocs or globally – and additional custom Innovation Indicators added.

As leading innovation analysts, 2thinknow developed the banding system & further models since 2007 review of Innovation Cities. Banding by default ranges from Under-Performance (1) to Out-Performance (5). Globally, by banding 162 factors at the actual level of confidence, we can remove distortion and compensate for the lack of transparency or comparability of cities data globally from Africa to Asia to America.

This is a technique used in Commercial Analysis (for cities, in livability surveys as well) and reflects perspective of mining human outcomes (and Usable Insight) from disparate data. Regionally or nationally, where good data exists, larger bands up to 25 can be created for cities based on the quality of data (typically EU countries have the best data, leading to larger banding).

This banding approach also allowed us to create a comparative data framework for previously unmeasurable data such as Art Galleries, Sports Fanaticism, and we now using this CBD framework can create non-traditional performance indicators for emerging non-P&L responsibilities – such as Corporate Social Responsibility.

When used as part of Advisory, in sum this 2thinknow City Benchmarking Data data converts national data into a simple, reportable framework for rational discussion of city issues and opportunities. The data framework is being ongoingly updated & corrected from online services – and Cities can assist in updating their data by organising City Visits or making City Government Data Submissions.

CONSULTING. Advisory.

This Innovation Cities Program and the unique innovation city models, trend analysis tools allow 2thinknow to create Strategic Performance Improvement Plans for cities worldwide.

Because we are starting from a base of existing City Benchmarking Data we can create such a strategic plan with a reduced information gathering stage.

The outcome of this program, launching September 2009, is to provide clear guidelines to grow innovation in cities leading mid-term to improved economic & social outcomes.

See > Advisory & Workshops

256 Cities Included.

To be included cities normally meet some basic standards of development and population, assessed on a relative regional basis in Americas, Europe, Asia & Emerging regions. Whilst we have data on many more cities, cities typically must meet some basic standards of health, sanitation & similar factors. See > the 256 Cities