Why China’s Innovation Clusters Continue to Lead

The virtuous cycle between innovation and development is enabling more and more emerging and future industries to seize the momentum and accelerate their growth within innovation clusters.

Recently, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released the 2026 list of the world’s top 100 innovation clusters. A total of 25 Chinese clusters made the list, and the number of Chinese clusters on the list has ranked first in the world for four consecutive years. The Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai–Suzhou clusters made the top 10.

The list is compiled mainly by analyzing indicators such as international patent applications, scientific publications, and venture capital transactions to identify regions where innovation activity is concentrated. China’s continued dominance of the rankings and the emergence of multiple innovation hubs fully demonstrate the height and depth of China’s innovation.

China has the largest number of top 100 global innovation clusters, thanks to the deepening implementation of the coordinated regional development strategy in the field of scientific and technological innovation.

As an important part of the national innovation system, the regional innovation system is a fundamental underpinning for building a strong country in science and technology. The coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has given rise to a deep collaboration model of “R&D in Beijing, manufacturing and commercialization in Tianjin and Hebei”; the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta has driven the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor to “string pearls into a chain,” building a cross-regional collaborative innovation platform covering nine cities... Strengthening regional collaborative innovation has created a sound pattern of multi-point support and coordinated development.

Having the largest number of top 100 global innovation clusters confirms the comprehensive improvement of the overall effectiveness of China’s innovation system.

Innovation clusters reflect the close connections among research, enterprises, talent, and investment. In recent years, the pace of commercialization of scientific and technological achievements in China has accelerated markedly, new quality productive forces have been cultivated and expanded, and many of the listed innovation clusters are also industrial highlands. Wuhan, ranked 17th, saw the value added of high-tech manufacturing above designated size increase by 65.7% in the first half of this year, with the optoelectronic information industry accelerating; Ningde’s ranking surged by 24 places, closely tied to innovation in the power battery industry. The virtuous cycle between innovation and development is enabling more and more emerging and future industries to seize the momentum and accelerate their growth within innovation clusters.

With the largest number of top 100 global innovation clusters, China’s innovative development also provides valuable opportunities for the world.

More and more foreign-funded enterprises are choosing to conduct R&D and innovation in China, and many of their R&D centers are located in these innovation clusters. In the first seven months of this year, foreign applicants filed more than 42,000 invention patent applications in China; in 2025, actual foreign investment utilized in China’s scientific research and technical services sector accounted for nearly one-fifth of China’s total actual utilized foreign investment. With an open and cooperative approach, China promotes the sharing of innovation outcomes. In the first half of the year, China reached 81 outbound licensing deals for innovative drugs, and industrial robots were sold to 141 countries and regions. As Carsten Fink, Chief Economist of WIPO, said, Chinese innovation is continuously expanding the global technological frontier in more and more fields, and countries around the world are increasingly benefiting from Chinese innovation.

Global innovation resources are converging on China in the form of innovation clusters.