Beijing retains reputation as hub for creativity and innovation

A child watches an animation at the Global Hard & Core Technology Carnival in Beijing in September. CHINA DAILY

Beijing has shown strong momentum as a scientific center and innovation hub, according to the Global Innovation Hubs Index 2020 released recently, thanks to China's national innovation-driven development strategy.

The report, compiled by Springer Nature and Tsinghua University, was released at the 2020 Zhongguancun Forum in September. It said Beijing had made achievements in scientific research and infrastructure and increased its capabilities of technological innovation in artificial intelligence.

Xuan Zhaohui, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development, said the report, which reviewed 30 cities and city groups worldwide, has established an index system focused on three aspects－science centers, research strengths and influence, and innovation ecosystem－and made a pioneering contribution to the research into global innovation hubs.

In addition to Beijing, other top 10 cities and city groups in terms of comprehensive innovation capacities in the rankings include San Francisco-San Jose in California, the United States; New York; Tokyo and London, according to the report.

Beijing scored particularly high in two specific areas: science centers, and research strengths and influence.

It boasts a group of renowned universities, including Peking University and Tsinghua University, and 10 world-class research institutions. Beijing-headquartered Chinese Academy of Sciences has a complete scientific research system and balanced subject distribution.

Beijing's index of research and development personnel per 1 million people far outnumbers that in any other city nationwide, the report said.

The effective patent inventory for the AI industry in Beijing has reached some 18,000, and the number of effective invention patents per 1 million people surpassed 840, according to the report. Those statistics made Beijing a top-ranked city in the world for the two categories.

Beijing has developed a close cooperation network for AI patents with Chinese cities including Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. It has room to expand collaboration in this field with its international peers.

Beijing is home to 93 unicorn companies, which refers to startup businesses each valued at least $1 billion. Of the unicorn companies in Beijing, 76 have made the list of the world's top 500 unicorn companies. Their combined estimated value stood at more than $421.62 billion, according to the latest data.

The combined amounts that startup businesses in Beijing secured from venture capital companies and private equity firms both ranked second worldwide in 2019.

Mu Rongping, dean of the School of Public Policy and Management at University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, said: "It is necessary to create a sound global tech innovation hub index system, which is conducive to keeping our finger on the pulse of the original driving force behind the changes in the world innovation landscape and enabling in-time adjustments in our country's innovation-driven development policies."

Liang Zheng, a professor with the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University, said the index gives special attention to frontier and steering innovations, such as patent filings and cooperation networks in the field of AI, and numbers of innovative businesses and unicorn companies in the emerging industries including information technology and biopharmaceuticals.

songmengxing@chinadaily.com.cn