China leads the world in innovation clusters

A talent cooperation and exchange conference for the Yangtze River Delta G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor is held in Jinhua, east China's Zhejiang province, April 28, 2026. (Photo/Huang Wenlong)

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) recently released its 2026 ranking of the world's top 100 innovation clusters. China accounted for 25 clusters on the list, ranking first globally for the fourth consecutive year. The Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai-Suzhou clusters all ranked among the top 10.

The ranking identifies regions with concentrated innovation activity based on indicators including international patent applications, scientific publications, and venture capital transactions. China's consistent strong showing on the list, with innovation clusters flourishing across multiple regions, demonstrates both the scale and depth of its innovation ecosystem.

This leadership reflects years of strategic investment in coordinated regional tech development. Regional innovation networks have become a key pillar of the national innovation framework and provide a vital foundation for building China into a leading country in science and technology.

Coordinated development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has fostered deeper collaboration, with Beijing focusing on research and development while Tianjin and Hebei translate research findings into manufacturing applications.

Meanwhile, the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta has strengthened links among innovation hubs along the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor, creating a cross-regional collaborative innovation platform spanning nine cities.

Stronger regional collaboration has cultivated a sound pattern of innovation with multiple hubs working in concert.

Beyond sheer numbers, the rankings also signal a comprehensive upgrade across China's broader innovation system.

Innovation clusters capture the close links among research institutions, businesses, talent, and investment. In recent years, China has accelerated the commercialization of scientific and technological advances while nurturing and expanding new quality productive forces. Many of the innovation clusters on the list are also major industrial hubs.

Wuhan in central China's Hubei province, ranked 17th, saw the value added of its industrial enterprises above the designated size in high-tech manufacturing rise 65.7 percent year on year in the first half of this year, as its optoelectronics and information technology industries gathered pace. Ningde in Fujian province, meanwhile, climbed 24 places in the rankings, driven in large part by innovation in its power battery industry.

Photo shows the DeepBlue Technology Park in Dapeng New District, Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong province. (Photo/Li Jianqiang)

This virtuous cycle between innovation and development is enabling more emerging and future-oriented industries to gain momentum and grow rapidly within these clusters.

China's leading position in the number of top 100 global innovation clusters is also creating valuable opportunities for global partners.

An increasing number of foreign-invested companies are choosing to conduct research and pursue innovation in China, with many establishing R&D centers in these clusters. In the first seven months of this year, foreign applicants filed more than 42,000 invention patent applications in China. In 2025, foreign investment actually utilized in scientific research and technical services accounted for nearly 1/5 of China's total utilized foreign investment.

China is also committed to sharing the benefits of innovation through openness and cooperation. In the first half of this year, Chinese developers of innovative drugs reached 81 licensing deals with overseas partners, while industrial robots made in China were exported to 141 countries and regions.

As Carsten Fink, WIPO's chief economist, noted, Chinese innovation is pushing the frontiers of global science and technology across an expanding range of fields, with countries around the world increasingly benefiting from it.

Photo shows Taicang Biomedical Industrial Park in east China's Jiangsu province. (Photo/Ji Haixin)

Today, global innovation resources are increasingly converging on China through its innovation clusters.