The Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou cluster ranked first among the world’s top 100 innovation clusters in the World Intellectual Property Organization’s 2026 Global Innovation Index, retaining the position for a second consecutive year. The ranking was published on 8 September 2026.
WIPO’s assessment measures concentrations of innovation activity through three key indicators: international patent applications filed under its Patent Cooperation Treaty, scientific publications and venture-capital deals.
Over the past five years, the cluster recorded 2,259 PCT patent applications, 4,060 scientific publications and 138 venture-capital deals per million inhabitants, according to the supplied reports.
The Hong Kong government welcomed the result, saying it reaffirmed the Greater Bay Area’s innovation capacity and the strength of its financing ecosystem in supporting innovation and technology.
The government said Hong Kong would proactively align with the national 15th Five-Year Plan, strengthen its strategic role as an international innovation and technology hub, and increase cooperation with other Greater Bay Area cities. It also said accelerating innovation and technology development was an administration priority.
Measures cited by the government include developing an original-grant patent system, introducing a patent-box tax-relief mechanism and deepening cooperation with Greater Bay Area cities. These were presented as policy steps rather than completed achievements.
RTHK reported that Hong Kong had more than 5,200 start-ups in the previous year, more than three times the number a decade earlier, while Hong Kong Science Park and Cyberport had together nurtured about 20 unicorns. It also reported that more than 100 technology enterprises and institutions had signed leases at the Hong Kong Park of the Hetao Shenzhen–Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone, which opened in December of the previous year.