Science and Technology Cluster Ranking 2023

The Science and Technology (S&T) Cluster ranking of the Global Innovation Index identifies local concentrations of world-leading science and technology activity. S&T clusters are established through the analysis of patent-filing activity and scientific article publication, documenting the geographical areas around the world with the highest density of inventors and scientific authors.
WIPO locates and ranks science and technology clusters through a geocoding method, mapping addresses and names pulled from documents to 96% accuracy. Find out more about the S&T Cluster methodology.
Video revealing the top 10 science and technology clusters in the world
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Video: Top 10 S&T Clusters

Top 100 Science and Technology Clusters worldwide 2023

Main findings

The world’s five biggest S&T clusters are all located in East AsiaTokyo-Yokohama (Japan) leads as the largest global S&T cluster, followed by Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou (China and Hong Kong, China), Seoul (Republic of Korea), followed by China’s Beijing and Shanghai-Suzhou clusters.
The Cambridge cluster in the United Kingdom and San Jose-San Francisco, CA in the United States are found to be the clusters with the most intensive S&T activity, in proportion to population density, followed by Oxford (UK), Eindhoven (Netherlands) and Boston–Cambridge (US).
This year, the GII identifies 24 S&T clusters in China, up from the 21 last year, as the country boasting the greatest number of clusters, with Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou, Beijing Shanghai–Suzhou, and Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou and Nanjing leading.
The US has 21 among the top 100, Germany 9, and Japan, Canada, India and the Republic of Korea each have 4, with San Jose–San Francisco leading for the US, Munich for Germany, Tokyo-Yokohama for Japan, Toronto for Canada, Bengaluru for India, and Seoul for the Republic of Korea.
S&T clusters located in other middle-income economies besides China also saw strong S&T output growth, notably in India which has four top S&T clusters, with Chennai and Bengaluru experiencing the biggest increases in density of inventors and scientific authors.
S&T clusters in certain emerging economies grew at a particularly fast pace, including BrazilIndia, Türkiye and, beyond the top 100, in ArgentinaEgyptThailand and others.

Top 100 Science and Technology Cluster briefs 2023

Rank Cluster Economy Brief
1 Tokyo–Yokohama Japan
2 Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou Hong Kong, China
3 Seoul Republic of Korea
4 Beijing China
5 Shanghai–Suzhou China
6 San Jose–San Francisco, CA United States
7 Osaka–Kobe–Kyoto Japan
8 Boston–Cambridge, MA United States
9 San Diego, CA United States
10 New York City, NY United States
11 Nanjing China
12 Paris France
13 Wuhan China
14 Hangzhou China
15 Nagoya Japan
16 Los Angeles, CA United States
17 Washington, DC-Baltimore, MD United States
18 Daejeon Republic of Korea
19 Xian China
20 London United Kingdom
21 Seattle, WA United States
22 Munich Germany
23 Qingdao China
24 Chengdu China
25 Cologne Germany
26 Amsterdam–Rotterdam Netherlands (Kingdom of the)
27 Taipei–Hsinchu Taiwan (Province of China)
28 Houston, TX United States
29 Stuttgart Germany
30 Tel Aviv–Jerusalem Israel
31 Moscow Russian Federation
32 Chicago, IL United States
33 Singapore Singapore/Malaysia
34 Tehran Iran (Islamic Republic of)
35 Philadelphia, PA United States
36 Tianjin China
37 Changsha China
38 Stockholm Sweden
39 Minneapolis, MN United States
40 Hefei China
41 Eindhoven Netherlands (Kingdom of the)
42 Melbourne Australia
43 Berlin Germany
44 Chongqing China
45 Frankfurt am Main Germany
46 Sydney Australia
47 Raleigh, NC United States
48 Madrid Spain
49 Zürich Switzerland
50 Milan Italy
51 Brussels–Antwerp Belgium
52 Toronto Canada
53 Harbin China
54 Barcelona Spain
55 Jinan China
56 Bengaluru India
57 Denver, CO United States
58 Changchun China
59 Istanbul Türkiye
60 Montreal Canada
61 Copenhagen Denmark
62 Heidelberg–Mannheim Germany
63 Shenyang China
64 Delhi India
65 Cambridge United Kingdom
66 Rome Italy
67 Portland, OR United States
68 Atlanta, GA United States
69 Dalian China
70 Nuremberg–Erlangen Germany
71 Dallas, TX United States
72 São Paulo Brazil
73 Helsinki Finland
74 Busan Republic of Korea
75 Zhengzhou China
76 Vienna Austria
77 Cincinnati, OH United States
78 Pittsburgh, PA United States
79 Oxford United Kingdom
80 Xiamen China
81 Ann Arbor, MI United States
82 Lanzhou China
83 Chennai India
84 Mumbai India
85 Vancouver Canada
86 Kanazawa Japan
87 Ankara Türkiye
88 Lyon France
89 Zhenjiang China
90 Warsaw Poland
91 Daegu Republic of Korea
92 Austin, TX United States
93 Wuxi China
94 Fuzhou China
95 Ottawa Canada
96 Phoenix, AZ United States
97 Basel Switzerland/Germany/France
98 Göteborg Sweden
99 Hamburg Germany
100 Brisbane Australia
For ongoing work on assisting countries to measure and improve innovation at the sub-national level see the WIPO toolkit on "Enabling Innovation Measurement at the Sub-National Level" and the dedicated WIPO General Assemblies Side Event.