Bathed in the dawn of the fourth industrial revolution, we witnessed the rapid development of science and technology. From biotechnology to quantum information and artificial intelligence, the development of science and technology has brought about economic and social changes. In order to benefit from scientific and technological progress, all countries in the world are seeking innovation to drive economic growth. Some cities or metropolitan areas have evolved into scientific and technological innovation centers by gathering scientific research and commercial resources, which in turn become the source of new knowledge and technology and promote technological change and economic development. With the help of its extensive scientific research and economic network, it has also pushed its innovation achievements to the world and become a global scientific and technological innovation center.
How to define these science and technology innovation centers? How to evaluate their innovative ability? The report "Global Science and Technology Innovation Center Index 2020" released at Zhongguancun Forum 2020 held in Beijing aims to answer these questions. The report developed a set of index system by natural science research and Tsinghua University team, and made a preliminary ranking of global scientific and technological innovation centers with international influence.
"The ranking of global science and technology innovation centers is not easy because we need to collect multi-dimensional city-level data, which is usually not easy to obtain." Professor Tsinghua University Chen Ling said. The whole project is led by a team led by Professor Chen Ling and supported by natural research. "We hope that our cooperative efforts can establish a framework for evaluating global science and technology innovation centers, so as to find ways to further improve innovation capabilities and promote global innovation and development." [Chart 1]
Measure innovation ability
According to this report, a city must first have a solid scientific research foundation, that is, first-class universities and scientific research institutions that can be the source of knowledge creation, and rich scientific and technological human resources, including some top scientists, who, with the support of advanced scientific research infrastructure, produce a large number of high-quality scientific research results.
Secondly, the science and technology innovation center should have a dynamic science and technology-oriented economy, which is embodied in the ability of scientific and technological innovation represented by invention patents, high-tech innovative enterprises of a certain scale, emerging industries and healthy economic growth.
Furthermore, a good innovation ecology is also very important, which includes: an open and cooperative environment, which can be embodied in a wide network of scientific and technological cooperation and extensive participation in the global economy, and can be manifested in foreign direct investment and foreign investment; Support system for innovation and entrepreneurial activities, such as financing for entrepreneurial enterprises; Improve public service infrastructure and support the development of digital technology and international exchanges; And attractive urban culture, including the attraction to innovative talents and the embodiment of entrepreneurship.
Based on the above three main dimensions, the report formulated detailed indicators, and then formed a set of indicators system to measure urban innovation ability. At present, the report has collected data of 3 1 specific indicators. "When selecting these indicators, we need to consider their relevance to innovation ability, the availability of data, and whether they can be quantified for comparison between cities." Chen Ling said.
At present, the main analysis objects of the report include 30 cities or metropolitan areas, all of which are well-known innovation hotspots distributed around the world. When defining the geographical boundaries of these science and technology centers, considering that innovation hotspots are usually related to a top scientific research institution around them, based on the radiation of scientific and technological exchanges, several administrative cities in this region will be included in the same metropolitan area. In these innovation centers, there will also be geographical agglomeration of high-tech companies, and their developed transportation network will also closely link them with other cities in the world.
Diversified innovation models
In the ranking based on comprehensive scores, the United States has obvious advantages. Seven cities/metropolitan areas have entered the top ten of global science and technology innovation centers, among which San Francisco, new york and Boston rank in the top three. London is the only European city in the top ten, and there are two other Asian cities. Among them, Beijing ranks fifth after Tokyo and is the only China city in the top ten.
Further analysis of the index will show that the innovation models of these global science and technology innovation centers show the characteristics of differentiation. The development of San Francisco metropolitan area in scientific research and innovation, innovation economy and innovation ecology may be the most balanced, ranking the top three in the world in these three dimensions. It is worth mentioning that San Francisco ranks first in the world in terms of innovation economy and innovation ecology, which may benefit from the vigorous development of high-tech company clusters in Silicon Valley under the active innovation culture. Other top three American cities also performed well in all three dimensions. The two Asian cities on the list, namely Tokyo and Beijing, rank in the top three in the single innovation economy list, but slightly lag behind the other ten cities in the single innovation ecology list. In contrast, London ranks in the top three in terms of innovation ecology and is also excellent in scientific research and innovation, but it ranks lower in the ranking of innovation economy. [Chart 2]
Among the top cities in the Science Center rankings, the dominance of the United States is very obvious: six of the top ten cities are American cities, and the other two are European cities. Beijing is one of only two Asian cities on the list, ranking eighth. Beijing's advantages in scientific research are likely to come from its centralized scientific research institutions, supercomputing centers and large-scale scientific facilities. As pointed out in the report, this may be closely related to the government's investment in scientific research and related infrastructure construction in recent years.
In terms of innovative economy, Asian cities are outstanding, with seven cities among the top ten in the world, including six East Asian cities and 1 West Asian city (Tel Aviv). These cities are rapidly developing digital economy and emerging industries. The other three are American cities, but only San Francisco ranks first, and the other two American cities rank behind Asian cities.
American cities are not inferior in innovation ecology, occupying seven seats in the top ten list. European cities occupy two seats, and Singapore is the only Asian city on the list.
According to the report, international metropolises with large populations like new york, London, Beijing and Tokyo all have their own remarkable innovation advantages. They usually have first-class universities or research institutions, multinational companies and active international exchanges in scientific research and economy. However, some smaller cities, especially those with famous universities, such as the "Triangle Science Park" in the United States (Chapel Hill-Durham-Lori) and Boston, have driven economic development with the rapid development of digital technology and high technology, and have also become vibrant innovation centers. Although the population of these cities, such as San Francisco and Seattle, is not as big as those of tens of millions of metropolises, they have nurtured a good innovation ecology and formed innovation and development.
The report shows that having a solid scientific research foundation, dynamic economic development and supportive innovation ecological environment are all important elements that constitute a global science and technology innovation center, and they are also interrelated. In order to achieve sustainable growth, these elements had better develop in a balanced way. "We also welcome suggestions and opinions on this innovative indicator system, so that it can be continuously improved and strive to become a credible reference for public policy makers and practitioners." Chen Ling said.