The US has dominated an annual ranking of the Top 500 most innovative cities in the world but one Canadian city has made the highly-competitive top 10.
Tokyo tops the list, compiled annually since 2007 by Australian consultancy 2thinknow and based on 162 indicators. London, UK takes the second place.
Then comes the first wave of US cities to make the Top 500: San Francisco-San Jose moved down to number three, followed by New York, and Los Angeles.
Toronto (8) is the only Canadian city to make the top 10, sitting below Singapore and Boston. It ranks fifth in the Americas.
“This year innovation is likely to come from large cities as usual, but we found on a population-adjusted basis many small cities are punching above their weight. It’s the year of big cities with physical networks and small cities with digital networks, going global,” said Christopher Hire, director of commercial data provider 2thinknow, which publishes the annual Innovation Cities Index.
The other innovative Canadian cities
While Toronto has secured a top 10 place, several other Canadian cities also rank among the top 500.
Larger Canadian cities continued their top rankings with few changes including Vancouver (25) and Québec City (58). Lower business costs and improved innovation policies lead Ottawa (126), Halifax (202) and Hamilton (205) to achieve above average positions relative to their smaller populations with potential to improve in future years.
The full list of Canadian cities in the top 500 is: Toronto (8), Montreal (22), Vancouver (25), Quebec (58), Calgary (86), Edmonton (125), Ottawa (126), Halifax (202), Hamilton (205), Winnipeg (223), London (278), Kitchener (288), Fredericton – St John (314), and Moncton (342).
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300 Richmond St. W., #300, Toronto, ON M5V-1X2
