Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou retains top global innovation cluster spot

It placed ahead of Tokyo-Yokohama and San Jose-San Francisco.

The Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster retained the top spot for the second consecutive year amongst the world’s 100 leading innovation clusters, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization's Global Innovation Index 2026.

The cluster recorded 2,259 Patent Cooperation Treaty applications, 4,060 scientific publications, and 138 venture capital deals per one million inhabitants over the past five years.

It ranked ahead of Tokyo-Yokohama and San Jose-San Francisco.

The index evaluates innovation clusters based on international patent filings, scientific publications, and venture capital deals. 

Hong Kong recorded more than 5,200 start-ups in 2025, compared with over 1,500 in 2015, whilst Hong Kong Science Park and Cyberport have collectively nurtured around 20 unicorns.

The government said over 100 technology enterprises and institutions have also signed leases and started moving into the Hong Kong Park of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone, which opened in December 2025.

The park is intended to accommodate activities including scientific research, technology commercialisation, pilot production, and cross-border innovation collaboration.

Meanwhile, San Tin Technopole Company Limited, established in June, is tasked with developing 210 hectares of innovation and technology land in the city's Northern Metropolis.

The private equity sector had assets under management of nearly $1.96t (US$250b), ranking second in Asia after Mainland China.

The government has also been developing its original grant patent system and has introduced a patent box regime providing tax concessions for qualifying intellectual property income.

$1 = US$0.13