Innovation Cities Top 100 Index 2011: City Rankings


All of the most recent city rankings here. (Or, all years)

Top 100 cities - city rankings for the global innovation economyTop 100 world cities for an innovation economy in 2011. The world's largest city classification and ranking with 331 benchmark cities classified, and top 125 cities ranked in 2011, of which the top 100 are listed below. Based on 2thinknow analysis of cities in what our analysts term the 'global innovation economy'. Annual since 2007.

2011-INDEXES > TOP 100 | AMERICAS | EUROPE | ASIA | EMERGING | GLOBAL | ALL YEARS

View current Media Release + Read the 2011 FAQ

GLOBAL RANK CITY STATE COUNTRY CLASSIFICATION BAND SCORE
1 Boston Massachusetts United States 1 NEXUS 29
2 San Francisco Bay Area California United States 1 NEXUS 29
3 Paris   France 1 NEXUS 29
4 New York New York United States 1 NEXUS 29
5 Vienna   Austria 1 NEXUS 28
6 Amsterdam   Netherlands 1 NEXUS 28
7 Munich   Germany 1 NEXUS 28
8 Lyon   France 1 NEXUS 27
9 Copenhagen   Denmark 1 NEXUS 27
10 Toronto   Canada 1 NEXUS 27
11 London   United Kingdom 1 NEXUS 27
12 Frankfurt   Germany 1 NEXUS 27
13 Hamburg   Germany 1 NEXUS 27
14 Berlin   Germany 1 NEXUS 26
15 Hong Kong Hong Kong Hong Kong 1 NEXUS 26
16 Milan   Italy 1 NEXUS 26
17 Melbourne VIC Australia 1 NEXUS 26
18 Stuttgart   Germany 1 NEXUS 26
19 Barcelona   Spain 1 NEXUS 25
20 Sydney NSW Australia 1 NEXUS 25
21 Stockholm   Sweden 1 NEXUS 25
22 Tokyo Tokyo Japan 1 NEXUS 25
23 Rome   Italy 1 NEXUS 25
24 Shanghai Shanghai China 1 NEXUS 25
25 Seattle Washington United States 1 NEXUS 25
26 Singapore   Singapore 1 NEXUS 25
27 Strasbourg   France 1 NEXUS 25
28 Seoul   Korea, South 1 NEXUS 25
29 Los Angeles California United States 1 NEXUS 25
30 Kyoto Kyoto Japan 1 NEXUS 25
31 Montréal   Canada 1 NEXUS 25
32 Manchester   United Kingdom 1 NEXUS 25
33 Philadelphia Pennsylvania United States 1 NEXUS 25
34 Chicago Illinois United States 2 HUB 25
35 Washington DC District of Columbia United States 2 HUB 25
36 Düsseldorf   Germany 2 HUB 25
37 Nantes   France 2 HUB 24
38 Brussels   Belgium 2 HUB 24
39 Marseille   France 2 HUB 24
40 Oslo   Norway 2 HUB 24
41 Bordeaux   France 2 HUB 24
42 Helsinki   Finland 2 HUB 24
43 Prague   Czech Republic 2 HUB 24
44 Toulouse   France 2 HUB 24
45 Cologne   Germany 2 HUB 24
46 Tel Aviv   Israel 2 HUB 24
47 Budapest   Hungary 2 HUB 24
48 Osaka Osaka Japan 2 HUB 24
49 Vancouver   Canada 2 HUB 24
50 Leipzig   Germany 2 HUB 24
51 Austin Texas United States 2 HUB 24
52 Madrid   Spain 2 HUB 24
53 Beijing Beijing China 2 HUB 24
54 Denver Colorado United States 2 HUB 24
55 Minneapolis-St Paul Minnesota United States 2 HUB 24
56 Orlando Florida United States 2 HUB 24
57 Hannover   Germany 2 HUB 24
58 Dresden   Germany 2 HUB 24
59 Abu Dhabi   United Arab Emirates 2 HUB 23
60 Portland Oregon United States 2 HUB 23
61 Wellington   New Zealand 2 HUB 23
62 The Hague   Netherlands 2 HUB 23
63 Montpellier   France 2 HUB 23
64 Karlsruhe   Germany 2 HUB 23
65 Edinburgh   United Kingdom 2 HUB 23
66 Fukuoka Fukoaka Japan 2 HUB 23
67 Kuala Lumpur   Malaysia 2 HUB 23
68 Aachen   Germany 2 HUB 23
69 Geneva   Switzerland 2 HUB 23
70 Auckland   New Zealand 2 HUB 23
71 Zürich   Switzerland 2 HUB 23
72 Ann Arbor Michigan United States 2 HUB 23
73 Raleigh-Durham North Carolina United States 2 HUB 23
74 Glasgow   United Kingdom 2 HUB 23
75 Nuremberg   Germany 2 HUB 23
76 Dallas-Fort Worth Texas United States 2 HUB 23
77 Essen   Germany 2 HUB 23
78 Rotterdam   Netherlands 2 HUB 23
79 Québec   Canada 2 HUB 23
80 Torino   Italy 2 HUB 23
81 Calgary Alberta Canada 2 HUB 23
82 Bilbao   Spain 2 HUB 23
83 Dortmund   Germany 2 HUB 23
84 Antwerp   Belgium 2 HUB 23
85 Kobe Hyogo Japan 2 HUB 23
86 Linz   Austria 2 HUB 23
87 Houston Texas United States 2 HUB 23
88 Bonn   Germany 2 HUB 23
89 Istanbul   Turkey 2 HUB 23
90 Venice   Italy 2 HUB 23
91 Dubai   United Arab Emirates 2 HUB 23
92 Pittsburgh Pennsylvania United States 2 HUB 23
93 Shenzhen Guangdong China 2 HUB 23
94 Jacksonville Florida United States 2 HUB 23
95 Baltimore Maryland United States 2 HUB 23
96 Reims   France 2 HUB 23
97 Atlanta Georgia United States 2 HUB 23
98 Tallahassee Florida United States 2 HUB 23
99 San Diego California United States 2 HUB 23
100 Taipei   Taiwan 2 HUB 23

Key to index.

All cities are graded into award categories based on their index score. In descending order of importance to the innovation economy: NEXUS: Critical nexus for multiple economic and social innovation segments HUB: Dominance or influence on key economic and social innovation segments , based on global trends NODE: Broad performance across many innovation segments, with key imbalances INFLUENCER: Competitive in some segments, potential or imbalanced UPSTART: Potential steps towards relative future performance in a few innovation segments Regions are defined as follows: AMERICAS: North and South America EUROPE: The U.N. defined Europe with European union, Western Russia, Israel and major Turkish cities ASIA: Asia and Oceania (Australia/NZ) EMERGING: Mid-East, Africa, Turkey and Caucasus states

Full details

Purchase City Benchmarking Data to measure a single city or compare cities. Read the analyst city report to understand how to build urban innovation economies. Or place an annual subscription for an affordable full package of analysis.

Methodology in brief:

The Index is the most comprehensive city ranking and scoring. Each city was selected from 1,540 cities based on basic factors of health, wealth, population, geography. The selected 331 cities had data extracted the city benchmarking data program on 162 indicators. Each of the benchmarking data were scored by analysts using best available qualitative analysis and quantitative statistics (see City Benchmarking Data to purchase city data). Where data was unavailable, national or state estimates were used. Data was then trend balanced against 21 global trends, by analysts.For the final index had a zeitgeist (analyst confidence) factor added, and score reduced to a 3 factor score for Cultural Assets, Human Infrastructure and Networked Markets. For city Classification, these scores were competitively graded into 5 bands (Nexus, Hub, Node, Influencer, Upstart) The top 33% of Nexus and Hub ( and selected Node cities of future interest)  final graded scores were ranked by analysts based on trends over 2-5 years. From this global Index, 4 regional indexes for Americas, Europe, Asia and Emerging are also produced. Please note the full list above is classified (Node, Influencer, Upstart) not ranked except wher a rank is noted. Rankings are just for general information. A node ranking is considered globally competitive. More discussion and questions answered in this FAQ. For more details on methodology, please see the FAQ or order the Innovation Cities Analysis Report.

Reproduction of this list:

The indexes and supporting materials are copyright and used under license by 2thinknow. You may reproduce the statistics and indexes in any reasonable form, graphics, or data mash-up as long as you attribute it to 2thinknow and do not modify the numbers or otherwise mislead. The easy correct way to do this is as follows: Source: 2thinknow Innovation Cities™ Program: www.innovation-cities.com [or the link of the page you are referencing] 2thinknow do reserve all rights, including the right to ask content to be removed.

About 2thinknow Innovation Cities™ Program:

Based in Melbourne Australia, 2thinknow are the world's first innovation agency. Established 2006 we have  designed original  models to measure and deliver innovation to cities, business seeking new markets and growth, and NGO/government clients. 2thinknow Innovation Cities Program to provide powerful tools for creating an innovation economy. This includes the city benchmarking data details on cities by segment globally, recently launched local innovation forum events, analyst reports such as the flagship Innovation Cities™ Analysis Report In 2011, in the Innovation Course, we are teaching our clients new innovation methods and practices. 2thinknow work with other clients through innovation consulting, analyst reports, projects  and innovation services, as well as a number of online resources and groups. Since 2009, 2thinknow as world's first innovation agency have classified cities for broad-based innovation. 2thinknow have published the Innovation Cities Indexes city rankings free online since 2007, when they started with a very small 22 cities. This is now 331 cities in the 2011 year, and is the world's largest and most diverse city ranking. Contact 2thinknow here: http://innovation-cities.com/enquire// or via twitter @2thinknow