Innovation Cluster Ranking 2025

The Innovation cluster ranking of the Global Innovation Index identifies local concentrations of innovation activity. Innovation clusters are established through the analysis of patent-filing activity, scientific article publication and venture capital (VC) activity, documenting the geographical areas around the world with the highest density of inventors, scientific authors and venture capitalists.
WIPO locates and ranks innovation clusters through a geocoding method, mapping addresses and names pulled from documents to 98% accuracy for inventor addresses, and 99.7% for both scientific author addresses and VC deals.
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Video: Top 10 Innovation Clusters 2025

Top 100 Innovation Clusters worldwide 2025

Note: Blue points (noise) refer to all inventor/author rounded locations, with at least five records, not classified as being within a cluster.
Source: WIPO Statistics Database, May 2025.

Top innovative clusters in the world

  1. Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou (China and Hong Kong, China)
  2. Tokyo–Yokohama (Japan). 
  3. San Jose–San Francisco (United States), 
  4. Beijing (China) 
  5. Seoul (Republic of Korea) 
When combined, Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou and Tokyo-Yokohama account for almost one in every five PCT applications filed globally.

Innovation clusters with most intensive activity

Innovation clusters with the most intensive innovation activity, in proportion to population density are:

  1. San Jose–San Francisco cluster (United States) 
  2. Cambridge (United Kingdom) 
  3. Boston–Cambridge (United States) 
  4. Ningde (China)
  5. Oxford (United Kingdom)

World regions of the top 100 innovation clusters

The top 100 innovation clusters continue to be predominantly located in three regions:
  1. North America
  2. Europe 
  3. Asia

Economies of the top 100 innovation clusters

The top 100 innovation clusters are concentrated in the following economies:
  1. China: for the second consecutive year, leads with the most clusters (24). 
  2. The United States (22) with San Jose–San Francisco as the leading cluster.
  3. Germany (7) with Munich as the top cluster. 
  4. India (4) with Bengaluru as the most innovative cluster
  5. The United Kingdom (4) with London as the most significant cluster. 

Which cities entered the top 100 ranking of the most innovative clusters?

This year, 10 clusters entered the top 100 for the first time:
  • Miami (67th), Phoenix (78th) and Salt Lake City (92nd) in the USA
  • Ningbo (93rd) and Ningde (99th) in China 
  • Dublin (71st) in Ireland 
  • Mexico City (79th) in Mexico 
  • Oslo (85th) in Norway 
  • Hamburg (91st) Germany 
  • Manchester (94th) in the UK
The entry of Mexico City (79th) adds a second cluster in Latin America (next to São Paulo, 49th, in Brazil) to the top 100.

Main findings

Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou (China and Hong Kong, China) tops the global rankings, followed by Tokyo–Yokohama (Japan). When combined, those two clusters account for almost one in every five PCT applications filed globally. San Jose–San Francisco (United States), Beijing (China), and Seoul (Republic of Korea) follow in third, fourth, and fifth place, respectively.
The San Jose–San Francisco cluster in the United States and Cambridge in the United Kingdom are found to be the clusters with the most intensive innovation activity, in proportion to population density, followed by Boston–Cambridge (United States), Ningde (China), and Oxford (United Kingdom).
The top 100 innovation clusters continue to be predominantly located in three regions: North America, Europe, and Asia, with a particular concentration in two key economies: China and the United States. China, for the second consecutive year, leads with the most clusters (24) in the top 100. Followed by the United States (22), Germany (7), India and the United Kingdom each with 4 clusters. San Jose–San Francisco is the leading cluster for the United States, Munich for Germany, Bengaluru for India, and London for the United Kingdom.
This year, 10 clusters entered the top 100 for the first time: three clusters in United States—Miami (67th), Phoenix (78th) and Salt Lake City (92nd), two clusters in China—Ningbo (93rd) and Ningde (99th), Dublin (71st, Ireland), Mexico City (79th, Mexico), Oslo (85th)—bringing Norway into the top 100, Hamburg (91st, Germany), and Manchester (94th, United Kingdom). The entry of Mexico City (79th) adds a second cluster in Latin America (next to São Paulo, 49th, in Brazil) to the top 100.

Top 100 Innovation Cluster briefs 2025