The Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou science and technology cluster takes second place in a global ranking of top-performing city clusters, following the Tokyo-Yokohama cluster in Japan.
The ranking, the Chinese edition of Global Innovation Index, was released by the Guangdong Intellectual Property Administration on its official website Wednesday, after authorization by China Office of World Intellectual Property Organization.
The index has 80 indicators to explore a broad vision of innovation, including political environment, education, infrastructure and business sophistication.
Among the top-performing clusters that take PCT applications (applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty) and science publications as core metrics, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou science and technology cluster outperformed 16 other technology clusters in China. Within the cluster, Sun Yat-sen University takes first place in the number of science publications. Huawei Technologies takes the leading place among world companies with 4,411 PCT applications in 2019. OPPO and Ping An Technology take fifth and eighth place, respectively.
Shenzhen University and South China University of Technology take No. 3 and No. 5 in PCT applications in the category of universities.
Global Innovation Index also grades 25 global brands based on value and origins. Ping An, Huawei and WeChat take 9th, 10th and 19th place.
China takes 14th place among the 131 countries and economies around the world, the same ranking as last year.
In innovation performance, China ranks No. 26 in innovation input, but generates an innovation output to be ranked No. 6 in the index. In addition, China also advances in R&D input and market maturity. In terms of brands value, China ranks No. 17. Of the 5,000 most valuable brands, 408 brands, at a total value of US$16 trillion, come from China and nine brands enter the top 25.