The Global Innovation Index (GII), published annually by the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) since 2007, offers a comprehensive overview of the innovative capabilities of around 130 countries and economies globally. The 2023 GII features a Science and Technology (S&T) Cluster ranking, highlighting regions with the highest concentration of inventors and scientific authors. This ranking is based on a detailed analysis of patent filings and scientific publications.
Remarkably, the top five most innovative regions in the world, as of 2023, are all situated in East Asia. The Tokyo-Yokohama cluster in Japan leads the pack, followed by the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster in China, Seoul in South Korea, Beijing, and the Shanghai-Suzhou cluster, also in China.
While the GII's ranking offers valuable insight into geographical hotspots of innovation, particularly regarding intellectual property output and scholarly articles, it does not focus on specific industries. Notably, most innovation in the S&T sector is concentrated in digital communication and computer technologies, with only a tiny portion attributed to life science innovation.
This article reports our findings and highlights the clusters leading the way in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and medical technology. As we explore these sectors, we hope to provide a more relevant snapshot of the current status of life science innovation worldwide.
Top 100 S&T clusters in 2023
Figure 1 shows the top 100 Science and Technology Clusters worldwide, as the 2023 GII report reported.
Figure 1. Top 100 S&T Clusters
A note on methodology
It is worth mentioning that WIPO uses two innovation metrics in the compilation of the top 100 GII S&T clusters: (1) location of inventors listed on published patent applications and (2) authors listed on published scientific articles. For patents, this method relies on applications under WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). The patents selected were published over the most recent five-year period available, between 2018 and 2022, to minimize the effects of volatility that can occur between years. To widen the range of innovation included, scientific publications from the Web of Science’s Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) were incorporated. The SCIE provides detailed coverage of the world’s most impactful academic journals. For more details, I highly recommend downloading the full GII 2023 report.
China overtakes the US in the number of S&T clusters
In 2023, as in previous years, the top 100 S&T clusters are concentrated in three regions - North America, Europe and Asia, and more specifically in China and the United States. For the first time, in 2023, China is the economy with most clusters (24) ranked among the top 100, overtaking the United States with 21 clusters (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Top Clusters By Country
Computer technology & digital communications are leading patented technologies
In a ranking of patents by country, China leads with a total of around 695,400 international PCT patent applications filed each year, followed by the United States and Japan, respectively. Companies with the most patent filings were: Huawei, Qualcomm,
Mitsubishi Electric, Samsung Electronics, Boe Technology, Microsoft and LG Chem.
Looking at only the PCT applications within the top 100 S&T clusters, the following 10 patent technology fields account for 60% of all technology fields:
Computer technology (11.6%)
Digital communication (11.4%)
Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (6.5%)
Medtech (6.5%)
Audio‑visual technology (4.7%)
Measurement (4.6%)
Pharmaceuticals (4.3%)
Semiconductors (3.6%)
Transport (3.4%)
Biotechnology (3.3%)
As an example: the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou life science cluster has a high concentration in Digital communication (26.1%), the San Jose-San Francisco cluster is highly concentrated in Computer technologies (22.3%), while the Munich cluster has a higher concentration in Transport technologies (12.9%). The Tokyo-Yokohama cluster, the # 1 cluster in the world by S&T innovation (Figure 3), presents a less concentrated focus (source: WIPO).
Figure 3. The Tokyo-Yokohama Cluster
In terms of scientific publications, China is also leading the way. In the Beijing area alone, 279,485 publications have been reported in peer-reviewed journals across multiple S&T fields (Figure 4).
Figure 4 . Top 10 Clusters By Number of Publications and Patents
Top 10 Pharma and Biotech Clusters in 2023
The lack of industry-specific focus in the 2023 Global Innovation Index (GII) Science and Technology (S&T) Cluster presents several limitations. Without industry-specific analysis, the insights remain broad and generalized, making it difficult to apply them to specific sectors with unique challenges and opportunities. Different industries, such as pharmaceuticals, have distinct innovation dynamics. A non-industry-specific approach may overlook crucial trends, breakthroughs, and challenges pertinent to specific sectors.
When we analyze the data from life science industry lens, a different picture begins to emerge. The dominance of East Asia across multiple S&T industries begins to taper off, especially when we look at pharmaceutical and biotech patents.
(A) Pharmaceuticals
For example, concerning pharmaceutical patent filings, the Boston-Cambridge (US) is actually the top-performing cluster, followed by San Jose-San Francisco (US) and Shanghai-Suzhou (China) with 3,637, 2,363 and 2,305 filings, respectively. Most pharmaceutical patents are, by and large, filed in the US (Figure 5 - Top 10 pharma clusters).
Figure 5. Top 10 Pharmaceutical Clusters
(B) Biotechnology
Similarly, the Boston-Cambridge area (US) is the top-performing cluster for biotech patents, with 2,909 PCTs filed, followed by the Raleigh (US) and Copenhagen (DK) clusters. Concerning biotech innovation, the top 10 clusters are all based in the US and Europe (Denmark, UK and Switzerland), with the exception of Wuxi (China) with 169 biotech patents (Figure 6).
Figure 6. Top 10 Biotech Clusters
(C) Medical technologies
As for medtech patent filings (Table C), the Tokyo (JP) cluster leads the way with an impressive 7,645 patent filings, followed by Seoul (KR) and San Jose-San Francisco (US). Figure 7
Figure 7. Top 10 Medtech Clusters
Conclusion
The 2023 Global Innovation Index (GII) by the World Intellectual Property Office provides a comprehensive analysis of the innovative capabilities of countries worldwide, with a specific focus on Science and Technology (S&T) clusters. The report reveals that the most innovative regions are predominantly in East Asia, with clusters like Tokyo-Yokohama, Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou, Seoul, Beijing, and Shanghai-Suzhou leading the way.
However, the GII's broad approach, primarily focusing on general IP output and scholarly articles, reveals its limitations regarding specific industries. A closer look at sectors like pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and medical devices shows a different innovation landscape. While East Asia excels in general S&T innovation, the US and Europe emerge as leaders in the life sciences sector.
For instance, in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, clusters like Boston-Cambridge and Raleigh in the U.S. and Copenhagen in Denmark show a high volume of patent filings, indicating a strong innovation presence in these areas. Conversely, in the medical devices sector, the Tokyo cluster in Japan stands out with the highest number of patent filings, followed by Seoul in South Korea and San Jose-San Francisco in the U.S. This diversity in regional leadership across different sectors underscores global innovation's complexity and multifaceted nature.