Innovation Cities Global 256 Index: Boston at the top, Toronto ranked #19

[golodhendil]

Another of these global rankings, take this with however many grains of salt you need.

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The "Nexus 25" Cities:

GLOBAL RANK/ CITY/ INDEX SCORE
1 Boston 28
2 Vienna 28
3 Amsterdam 27
4 Paris 27
5 San Francisco 27
6 London 27
7 Hamburg 27
8 New York 27
9 Tokyo 26
10 Lyon 26
11 Stuttgart 26
12 Berlin 25
13 Barcelona 25
14 Frankfurt 25
15 Washington DC 25
16 Geneva 25
17 Copenhagen 25
18 Strasbourg 25
19 Toronto 25
20 Melbourne 25
21 Milan 25
22 Sydney 24
23 Rome 24
24 Brussels 24
25 Zürich 24

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MEDIA RELEASE: Boston #1 for Innovation

>
2thinknow on August J09 2009
Boston has been rated the best US city for innovation, tying scores with previous winner Vienna in Europe.

Boston also edged past Amsterdam, Paris, San Francisco, which rounded out the top five cities in the annual 2thinknow Innovation Cities Index.

European cities dominated the top Innovation Cities, with 61% of the top 75 in the European Union. US Cities were mainly from coastal states or the Great Lakes area.

London rose unexpectedly, followed by Hamburg, New York, Tokyo and Lyon in France. Toronto in Canada came in 19th, as Melbourne fell from 8th to 20th followed by Sydney in 22nd place. Vancouver placed 48th followed by Montréal.

The Index looks at which cities are taking the steps towards embracing innovation. Innovation now will lead to faster economic recovery and better resources for citizens in the next few years.

The Index looks at 162 Indicators including an active arts scene, architecture, environment, openness, setting up a business, creative media sectors, mobility, internet technologies, diverse base of industries, tourism, and how much market power the city had in world markets to sell innovations.

The often-overlooked market factor formed one third of the Index and resulted in the inter-connected European Union cities in Germany and France scoring highest overall. For the same reason, the need for better infrastructure in Asia impacted their scores

“The biggest story is the rise of networked European Union cities, relative to the decline of middle-America US cities.” said Christopher Hire, of 2thinknow.

“But if you have an idea, the top 150 of the cities analysed all represent a good destination for some type of innovation. Whether it’s a web start-up in San Francisco, laneway retail in Melbourne, smart manufacturing in Kobe or fashion in Paris.

“Your city will have key clusters, key industries that some citizens can use to create future economic & social wealth. We may have a recession, but the key to innvoation success is knowing which innovation can succeed where.” Hire added.

Harvard & the Massachusetts Institute of technology contributed to the rise of Boston, and a temporary retreat of East Europe led to a slight downward movement of Vienna. Paris was very close also to first place, being held back by famous French bureaucracy in business establishment.

However, Vienna and Paris both scored a perfect 10 for Inspiration - which measures the overall strength of the cities cultural assets such as museums, art galleries, airport access, food and wine, music venues, sports industry and fashion design.

Boston was in many ways better placed than New York with a less financial-services reliant city, that has the advantage of global consulting firm connections to roll-out new innovations.

Compared with past years, one major surprise was Washington DC at No 15. This was largely indirectly due to the Obama Effect - as the US capitol is now critical to innovation in sciences and business as one of the nations largest shareholders.

Singapore 31st just won close race with Hong Kong 38th as the pre-eminent Asian hub.

Abu Dhabi at No 50. outranked Dubai, as financial problems overtook the more well-known Mid-East hub. Shanghai followed at No. 52, largely on broader China issues.

The 2thinknow Innovation Cities Index has been published since 2007, and is available from the website www.innovation-cities.com for with 256 cities scored in 2009.

— ENDS —

USEFUL LINKS:

256 Cities Index: http://www.innovation-cities.com/2th...bal-256-index/
Understanding the Index: http://www.innovation-cities.com/exe...mary-research/
Media Resources: http://www.innovation-cities.com/media-resources/

SPOKESPERSON:

Christopher Hire
Executive Director of Innovation
2thinknow (twitter )

Phone: +61 3 9225 5284 (during 8.30 to 5.30 AEST M-F)
Email: media@2thinknow.com
On Twitter follow @christopherhire or @2thinknow

[EnviroTO]

With scores that are a range of integers from 24 to 28 for the top 25, how valuable could this ranking possibly be? Seems like the ranks are almost statistically tied and the people running the study are left able to put cities whereever they want. When you go to the 2thinknow website you are left to wonder if these people should be ranking innovation.

[UD2]

^^^

Agreed. Because all great minds come from North America and Europe. One Asian maded it to the list. Those Asians, no brain.

[golodhendil]

EnviroTO's point is somewhat legitimate, but I have a feeling that the "publically available" scores are rounded and when you purchase their report there will be a more accurate score given.

As for UD2, sounds like you've barely read even what's posted on here.

[CDL.TO]

Apparently, rival consulting firm McKiernsey & Co. has come out with a new and totally objective way to rate global cities. Here are the criteria:

1. Accessibility to delicious and efficient Dim Sum
2. Availability of Creemore on tap
3. Affordability of all you can eat Sushi prices
4. Selection of pirated DVDs
5. Proliferation of indie rock acts on any given night
6. Ease of getting into a free screening of obscure film festival because you know the organizer
7. Rate at which new affordable Thai restaurants get opened
8. Effortlessness of introducing partner of different ethnicity to your parents

Surprisingly, Toronto came in first in this ranking, well ahead of Geneva, Stockholm or that Scandinavian city where they have a great transit system but the newspapers keep on drawing pictures of the prophet Mohammed to offend their minorities.

(With credit to McKiernsey & Co.'s lead researcher, Mr. Hipster Duck.)

[Second_in_pie]

^^ I'm not sure, but it sounds like Hong Kong and Tokyo would rank #1 and 2 respectively on that list.

Toronto might be in the top 30 or 40.

EDIT: Okay, it might be able to squeeze in 4th or 5th

[Alex S]

Eating japanese food in HK is surprisingly expensive. so I think Toronto is #1

[wyliepoon]

Even the "dim sum" category might not work in HK's favour, since it's been rumored that the majority of HK's top dim sum chefs have moved to Vancouver and Toronto before the handover in 1997.

Agreed. Because all great minds come from North America and Europe. One Asian maded it to the list. Those Asians, no brain.

One of the main criticisms of Asian culture is that Asians are not taught to think creatively, but rather are taught to cram as much knowledge into their heads as possible. So it's no surprise to me that only Tokyo ranks among the top 25 (you're bound to find at least some creative people in the world's largest metropolis).

Just think of the architecture in Asian cities. While most landmark buildings in North American and European cities are designed by local talent, in Asian cities (Dubai, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, etc.) the majority of landmark buildings are designed by foreign firms. Asian cities do not depend on local talent partly because they think local talent is inferior and incapable of developing anything "world class", like the western "starchitects".

[Alex S]

Even the "dim sum" category might not work in HK's favour, since it's been rumored that the majority of HK's top dim sum chefs have moved to Vancouver and Toronto before the handover in 1997.



One of the main criticisms of Asian culture is that Asians are not taught to think creatively, but rather are taught to cram as much knowledge into their heads as possible. So it's no surprise to me that only Tokyo ranks among the top 25 (you're bound to find at least some creative people in the world's largest metropolis).

Just think of the architecture in Asian cities. While most landmark buildings in North American and European cities are designed by local talent, in Asian cities (Dubai, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, etc.) the majority of landmark buildings are designed by foreign firms. Asian cities do not depend on local talent partly because they think local talent is inferior and incapable of developing anything "world class", like the western "starchitects".

There are obvious exception such as Absolute. I think a lot of the reason they hire foriegn designers is for the bragging rights. They have a lot to prove to western and european countries.

[lordmandeep]

I find it funny that a lot of these European Centres are as liberal as us and even more and yet the majority always seem to want to get back at Muslims. I was in Paris about 3 months after the Riots and then I understood what was happening.

I think in Toronto I think things never boil over much because there is no dominant minority group. Sure the Chinese are the largest but it appears there is just as many Indians. A great deal of racism here in Toronto is towards Tamils due to the disruptive protests and to Blacks over crime.

[Darkstar416]

Apparently, rival consulting firm McKiernsey & Co. has come out with a new and totally objective way to rate global cities. Here are the criteria:

1. Accessibility to delicious and efficient Dim Sum
2. Availability of Creemore on tap
3. Affordability of all you can eat Sushi prices
4. Selection of pirated DVDs
5. Proliferation of indie rock acts on any given night
6. Ease of getting into a free screening of obscure film festival because you know the organizer
7. Rate at which new affordable Thai restaurants get opened
8. Effortlessness of introducing partner of different ethnicity to your parents

Surprisingly, Toronto came in first in this ranking, well ahead of Geneva, Stockholm or that Scandinavian city where they have a great transit system but the newspapers keep on drawing pictures of the prophet Mohammed to offend their minorities.

(With credit to McKiernsey & Co.'s lead researcher, Mr. Hipster Duck.)

Post of the year!

[devil_dice]

What does the situation with Tamils in Toronto have anything to do with racism? I think it's more related to the fact that Torontonians were pissed off that their lives and commutes were being disrupted by a conflict which did not involve them. Whether that's the reason for the opposition to the protests or not, I don't see how racism plays into it.