World Intellectual Property Organization: “Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou” Innovation Cluster Ranks First in the World Again in 2026

The Zhitong Finance App learned that on September 8, the World Intellectual Property Organization announced the “2026 Global Innovation Index” top 100 innovation clusters. Among them, the “Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou” cluster once again ranked first in the world. A spokesman for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government said that the innovation cluster rankings announced by the World Intellectual Property Organization once again affirm the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA)'s outstanding innovation capabilities and the financial ecosystem supporting innovative technology (innovation and technology), and warmly welcomed this.

The “Global Innovation Index” cluster ranking uses three core indicators, namely the number of international patent applications submitted through the WIPO Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), the number of scientific papers published, and the volume of venture capital transactions, to identify the degree of concentration of world-class innovation activities in the region. In this year's ranking, the “Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou” PCT patent application density in the past five years was 2,259 per million people, and the density of scientific papers published was 4,060 per million people; as for venture capital transactions, the density was 138 per million people.

A spokesman for the Hong Kong government said that speeding up the development of innovation and technology is the policy priority of the current Hong Kong government. The Government has been striving to improve the innovation and technology ecosystem, including continuing to develop the original patent grant system and introducing a “patent box” mechanism to provide tax relief for intellectual property revenue to promote innovation; deepening collaboration between Hong Kong and sister cities in the Greater Bay Area, while optimizing the local innovation and technology development pattern to promote the deep integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation, so as to develop into an international innovation and technology center and contribute to the construction of a strong national science and technology nation.

The number of startups in Hong Kong jumped from more than 1,500 in 2015 to more than 5,200 in 2025; the two major innovation and technology flagships, Hong Kong Science Park and Cyberport, have now seen the birth of about 20 unicorn companies. Meanwhile, the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone Hong Kong Park (Hetao Hong Kong Park) was officially opened in December 2025. Currently, more than 100 technology companies/institutions have signed leases and settled in one after another.

With the advantages of strong partnerships between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, the Hetao Hong Kong Park will become an important platform for basic scientific research, transformation of achievements, pilot production and international innovation and technology cooperation in the Greater Bay Area, driving high-quality development. Xintian Science and Technology City Co., Ltd. was also formally established in June this year to fully promote the development of 210 hectares of innovation and technology land in Xintian Science and Technology City and form an important link with the Hetao Hong Kong Park for collaborative development with the upper, middle and lower reaches.

Hong Kong's private equity market is booming, with assets under management of nearly US$250 billion, ranking second in Asia after mainland China. The Government has been enhancing the development of venture capital financing as a key part of Hong Kong's innovation, technology and commercialization ecosystem. The HK$10 billion “Innovation and Technology Industry Guidance Fund”, together with another HK$10 billion “Industry-University-Research 1+ Program” and the “Innovation and Technology Accelerator Pilot Program”, aims to strengthen the entire chain of financial support from university research and seed stage entrepreneurship to scale expansion, industrial application and global market expansion.