Innovation Cities™ Global Index 2011


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

Cities Rankings, Cities Index, Cities Data USA Canada Europe Asia Africa Mid-East OceaniaCity innovation classifications and rankings, 2011.

World's largest city classification and global ranking with 331 benchmark cities classified, and top 125 cities analyst ranked in 2011. Based on 2thinknow analysis of cities on 162 city indicators from 2thinknow City Benchmarking Data program. 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 REGION BAND SCORE
1 Boston Massachusetts United States AMERICAS 29
2 San Francisco Bay Area California United States AMERICAS 29
3 Paris France EUROPE 29
4 New York New York United States AMERICAS 29
5 Vienna Austria EUROPE 28
6 Amsterdam Netherlands EUROPE 28
7 Munich Germany EUROPE 28
8 Lyon France EUROPE 27
9 Copenhagen Denmark EUROPE 27
10 Toronto Canada AMERICAS 27
11 London United Kingdom EUROPE 27
12 Frankfurt Germany EUROPE 27
13 Hamburg Germany EUROPE 27
14 Berlin Germany EUROPE 26
15 Hong Kong Hong Kong Hong Kong ASIA 26
16 Milan Italy EUROPE 26
17 Melbourne VIC Australia ASIA 26
18 Stuttgart Germany EUROPE 26
19 Barcelona Spain EUROPE 25
20 Sydney NSW Australia ASIA 25
21 Stockholm Sweden EUROPE 25
22 Tokyo Tokyo Japan ASIA 25
23 Rome Italy EUROPE 25
24 Shanghai Shanghai China ASIA 25
25 Seattle Washington United States AMERICAS 25
26 Singapore Singapore ASIA 25
27 Strasbourg France EUROPE 25
28 Seoul Korea, South ASIA 25
29 Los Angeles California United States AMERICAS 25
30 Kyoto Kyoto Japan ASIA 25
31 Montréal Canada AMERICAS 25
32 Manchester United Kingdom EUROPE 25
33 Philadelphia Pennsylvania United States AMERICAS 25
34 Chicago Illinois United States AMERICAS 25
35 Washington DC District of Columbia United States AMERICAS 25
36 Düsseldorf Germany EUROPE 25
37 Nantes France EUROPE 24
38 Brussels Belgium EUROPE 24
39 Marseille France EUROPE 24
40 Oslo Norway EUROPE 24
41 Bordeaux France EUROPE 24
42 Helsinki Finland EUROPE 24
43 Prague Czech Republic EUROPE 24
44 Toulouse France EUROPE 24
45 Cologne Germany EUROPE 24
46 Tel Aviv Israel EUROPE 24
47 Budapest Hungary EUROPE 24
48 Osaka Osaka Japan ASIA 24
49 Vancouver Canada AMERICAS 24
50 Leipzig Germany EUROPE 24
51 Austin Texas United States AMERICAS 24
52 Madrid Spain EUROPE 24
53 Beijing Beijing China ASIA 24
54 Denver Colorado United States AMERICAS 24
55 Minneapolis-St Paul Minnesota United States AMERICAS 24
56 Orlando Florida United States AMERICAS 24
57 Hannover Germany EUROPE 24
58 Dresden Germany EUROPE 24
59 Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates EMERGING 23
60 Portland Oregon United States AMERICAS 23
61 Wellington New Zealand ASIA 23
62 The Hague Netherlands EUROPE 23
63 Montpellier France EUROPE 23
64 Karlsruhe Germany EUROPE 23
65 Edinburgh United Kingdom EUROPE 23
66 Fukuoka Fukoaka Japan ASIA 23
67 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia ASIA 23
68 Aachen Germany EUROPE 23
69 Geneva Switzerland EUROPE 23
70 Auckland New Zealand ASIA 23
71 Zürich Switzerland EUROPE 23
72 Ann Arbor Michigan United States AMERICAS 23
73 Raleigh-Durham North Carolina United States AMERICAS 23
74 Glasgow United Kingdom EUROPE 23
75 Nuremberg Germany EUROPE 23
76 Dallas-Fort Worth Texas United States AMERICAS 23
77 Essen Germany EUROPE 23
78 Rotterdam Netherlands EUROPE 23
79 Québec Canada AMERICAS 23
80 Torino Italy EUROPE 23
81 Calgary Alberta Canada AMERICAS 23
82 Bilbao Spain EUROPE 23
83 Dortmund Germany EUROPE 23
84 Antwerp Belgium EUROPE 23
85 Kobe Hyogo Japan ASIA 23
86 Linz Austria EUROPE 23
87 Houston Texas United States AMERICAS 23
88 Bonn Germany EUROPE 23
89 Istanbul Turkey EUROPE 23
90 Venice Italy EUROPE 23
91 Dubai United Arab Emirates EMERGING 23
92 Pittsburgh Pennsylvania United States AMERICAS 23
93 Shenzhen Guangdong China ASIA 23
94 Jacksonville Florida United States AMERICAS 23
95 Baltimore Maryland United States AMERICAS 23
96 Reims France EUROPE 23
97 Atlanta Georgia United States AMERICAS 23
98 Tallahassee Florida United States AMERICAS 23
99 San Diego California United States AMERICAS 23
100 Taipei Taiwan ASIA 23
101 Kansas City KO/MO United States AMERICAS 23
102 Nice France EUROPE 23
103 Newark New Jersey United States AMERICAS 23
104 Bremen Germany EUROPE 23
105 Tampa Florida United States AMERICAS 23
106 Mannheim-Heidelberg Germany EUROPE 23
107 Edmonton Canada AMERICAS 22
108 Bangkok Thailand ASIA 22
109 São Paulo Brazil AMERICAS 22
110 Boise Idaho United States AMERICAS 22
111 Cape Town South Africa EMERGING 22
112 Adelaide SA Australia ASIA 22
113 Lisbon Portugal EUROPE 22
114 Belgrade Serbia EUROPE 22
115 Liverpool United Kingdom EUROPE 22
116 Boulder Colorado United States AMERICAS 22
117 Honolulu Hawaii United States AMERICAS 22
118 Springfield Massachusetts United States AMERICAS 22
119 Miami Florida United States AMERICAS 22
120 Mumbai Maharashtra India ASIA 22
121 Providence Rhode Island United States AMERICAS 22
122 St Petersburg Russia EUROPE 22
123 Oakland California United States AMERICAS 22
124 Madison Wisconsin United States AMERICAS 22
125 Birmingham Alabama United States AMERICAS 22
Basel Switzerland EUROPE 22
Bologna Italy EUROPE 22
Bristol United Kingdom EUROPE 22
Buffalo New York United States AMERICAS 22
Busan Korea, South ASIA 22
Canberra ACT Australia ASIA 22
Charlotte North Carolina United States AMERICAS 22
Charlottesville Virginia United States AMERICAS 22
Cleveland Ohio United States AMERICAS 22
Colorado Springs Colorado United States AMERICAS 22
Des Moines Iowa United States AMERICAS 22
Florence Italy EUROPE 22
Graz Austria EUROPE 22
Incheon Korea, South ASIA 22
Jerusalem Israel EUROPE 22
Kiel Germany EUROPE 22
Kingston-Upon-Hull United Kingdom EUROPE 22
Las Vegas Nevada United States AMERICAS 22
Lille France EUROPE 22
Luxembourg Luxembourg EUROPE 22
Manchester New Hampshire United States AMERICAS 22
Memphis Tennessee United States AMERICAS 22
Milwaukee Wisconsin United States AMERICAS 22
Modena Italy EUROPE 22
Nanjing Jiangsu China ASIA 22
Nashville Tennessee United States AMERICAS 22
Oporto Portugal EUROPE 22
Padova Italy EUROPE 22
Perth WA Australia ASIA 22
Phoenix Arizona United States AMERICAS 22
Riverside California United States AMERICAS 22
Rochester New York United States AMERICAS 22
Salt Lake City Utah United States AMERICAS 22
San Antonio Texas United States AMERICAS 22
Savannah Georgia United States AMERICAS 22
St Louis Missouri United States AMERICAS 22
Verona Italy EUROPE 22
Bangalore Karnataka India ASIA 21
Bath & NE Somerset United Kingdom EUROPE 21
Belfast United Kingdom EUROPE 21
Bern Switzerland EUROPE 21
Birmingham United Kingdom EUROPE 21
Bridgeport Connecticut United States AMERICAS 21
Brisbane QLD Australia ASIA 21
Buenos Aires Argentina AMERICAS 21
Cannes France EUROPE 21
Cardiff United Kingdom EUROPE 21
Charleston South Carolina United States AMERICAS 21
Cincinnati Ohio United States AMERICAS 21
Coventry United Kingdom EUROPE 21
Curitiba Brazil AMERICAS 21
Daegu Korea, South ASIA 21
Detroit Michigan United States AMERICAS 21
Dublin Ireland EUROPE 21
Fort Lauderdale Florida United States AMERICAS 21
Fresno California United States AMERICAS 21
Gdansk Poland EUROPE 21
Geelong VIC Australia ASIA 21
Gent Belgium EUROPE 21
Gothenburg Sweden EUROPE 21
Grand Rapids Michigan United States AMERICAS 21
Green Bay Wisconsin United States AMERICAS 21
Hartford Connecticut United States AMERICAS 21
Hiroshima Japan ASIA 21
Leeds United Kingdom EUROPE 21
Liège Belgium EUROPE 21
Ljubljana Slovenia EUROPE 21
Lucerne Switzerland EUROPE 21
Moscow Russia EUROPE 21
Nagasaki Nagasaki Japan ASIA 21
Nagoya Aichi Japan ASIA 21
Oklahoma City Oklahoma United States AMERICAS 21
Parma Italy EUROPE 21
Rennes France EUROPE 21
Richmond Virginia United States AMERICAS 21
Rochester Minnesota United States AMERICAS 21
Sacramento California United States AMERICAS 21
Salzburg Austria EUROPE 21
Sapporo Hokkaido Japan ASIA 21
Suzhou Jiangsu China ASIA 21
Syracuse New York United States AMERICAS 21
Tianjin Tianjin China ASIA 21
Ulsan Korea, South ASIA 21
Utrecht Netherlands EUROPE 21
Warsaw Poland EUROPE 21
Wuhan Hubei China ASIA 21
Yokohama Kanagawa Japan ASIA 21
Zagreb Croatia EUROPE 21
Albuquerque New Mexico United States AMERICAS 20
Ankara Turkey EMERGING 20
Athens Greece EUROPE 20
Augusta Georgia United States AMERICAS 20
Ballarat VIC Australia ASIA 20
Bendigo VIC Australia ASIA 20
Bratislava Slovakia EUROPE 20
Bucharest Romania EUROPE 20
Cedar Rapids Iowa United States AMERICAS 20
Chattanooga United States AMERICAS 20
Chengdu Sichuan China ASIA 20
Chennai Chennai India ASIA 20
Columbus Ohio United States AMERICAS 20
Delhi Delhi India ASIA 20
Dongguan Guangdong China ASIA 20
El Paso Texas United States AMERICAS 20
Fredericton - St John New Brunswick Canada AMERICAS 20
Gold Coast QLD Australia ASIA 20
Guangzhou Guangdong China ASIA 20
Halifax Canada AMERICAS 20
Indianapolis Indiana United States AMERICAS 20
Jeddah Saudi Arabia EMERGING 20
London Canada AMERICAS 20
Macau Macau China ASIA 20
Málaga Spain EUROPE 20
Mexico City Mexico AMERICAS 20
New Orleans Louisiana United States AMERICAS 20
Newcastle-upon-Tyne United Kingdom EUROPE 20
Omaha Nebraska United States AMERICAS 20
Ottawa Canada AMERICAS 20
Pamplona Spain EUROPE 20
Rio De Janeiro Brazil AMERICAS 20
Seville Spain EUROPE 20
Sheffield United Kingdom EUROPE 20
Shenyang Liaoning China ASIA 20
Springfield Illinois United States AMERICAS 20
Tallinn Estonia EUROPE 20
Toledo Ohio United States AMERICAS 20
Trieste Italy EUROPE 20
Tucson Arizona United States AMERICAS 20
Valencia Spain EUROPE 20
Winnipeg Canada AMERICAS 20
Xiamen Fujian China ASIA 20
Beirut Lebanon EMERGING 19
Bozeman Montana United States AMERICAS 19
Brasilia Brazil AMERICAS 19
Cairo Egypt EMERGING 19
Christchurch New Zealand ASIA 19
Dubrovnik Croatia EUROPE 19
Durban South Africa EMERGING 19
Hamilton Canada AMERICAS 19
Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam ASIA 19
Hobart TAS Australia ASIA 19
Hyderabad Hyderabad India ASIA 19
Izmir Turkey EMERGING 19
Katowice Poland EUROPE 19
Kitchener Canada AMERICAS 19
Kraków Poland EUROPE 19
Lexington Kentucky United States AMERICAS 19
Little Rock Arkansas United States AMERICAS 19
Louisville Kentucky United States AMERICAS 19
Manila Philippines ASIA 19
Moncton New Brunswick Canada AMERICAS 19
Monterrey Mexico AMERICAS 19
Newcastle NSW Australia ASIA 19
Panama City Panama AMERICAS 19
Qingdao Shandong China ASIA 19
Queenstown New Zealand ASIA 19
Reno Nevada United States AMERICAS 19
Reykjavik Iceland EUROPE 19
Riga Latvia EUROPE 19
Springfield Missouri United States AMERICAS 19
Thessaloniki Greece EUROPE 19
Tulsa Oklahoma United States AMERICAS 19
Vilnius Lithuania EUROPE 19
Wollongong NSW Australia ASIA 19
Alexandria Egypt EMERGING 18
Belo Horizonte Brazil AMERICAS 18
Casablanca Morocco EMERGING 18
Chongqing Chongqing China ASIA 18
Cordoba Argentina AMERICAS 18
Doha Qatar EMERGING 18
Kiev Ukraine EMERGING 18
Kosice Slovakia EUROPE 18
Kuwait City Kuwait EMERGING 18
Porto Alegre Brazil AMERICAS 18
Rostov-na-Donu Russia EMERGING 18
Sofia Bulgaria EUROPE 18
Timisoara Romania EUROPE 18
Ahmedabad India ASIA 17
Colombo Sri Lanka ASIA 17
Granada Spain EUROPE 17
Guadalajara Mexico AMERICAS 17
Madurai Tamil Nadu India ASIA 17
Nizhny Novgorod Russia EMERGING 17
Riyadh Saudi Arabia EMERGING 17
Xi'an Shanxi China ASIA 17
Algiers Algeria EMERGING 16
Jakarta Indonesia ASIA 16
Johannesburg South Africa EMERGING 16
Dhaka Bangladesh ASIA 15
Kolkata West Bengal India ASIA 15
Lima Peru AMERICAS 15
Minsk Belarus EMERGING 15
Montevideo Uruguay AMERICAS 15
Santiago Chile AMERICAS 15
Tirana Albania EUROPE 15
Karachi Pakistan EMERGING 14
Manama Bahrain EMERGING 14
San Juan Puerto Rico AMERICAS 14
Addis Ababa Ethiopia EMERGING 13
Bogotá Colombia AMERICAS 13
Dakar Senegal EMERGING 13
Lahore Pakistan EMERGING 13
Port Louis Mauritius EMERGING 13
Skopje Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of EUROPE 13
Dar es Salaam Tanzania EMERGING 12
Nairobi Kenya EMERGING 10

Key to index.

All cities are graded into award categories based on their band 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 rends

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.

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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