A white robot called Tianyi stands alongside a silver-and-black Tiangong 1.2 MAX robot during the five-day World Robot Congress 2024 in Beijing on August 22, 2024. Tianyi is 163cm tall and, as a service robot, can identify emotions and interact with people. Compared to the previous version, the 1.1 PRO, the Tiangong 1.2 MAX, which is 173cm tall, can carry heavier loads and walk faster and further. Photo: VCG
China accounts for the largest number of clusters among the world's top 100 science and technology clusters for the second consecutive year, according to early release of the 2024 Global Innovation Index (GII) by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on Tuesday.
These figures reflect the country's technological innovation on the world stage, despite an ongoing crackdown by the United States.
The report found that 26 of the world's top 100 science and technology innovation clusters are in China, up from 24 last year, followed by the United States with 20, Germany with eight, India and South Korea with four each.
According to the report, China and the United States are home to the world's largest science and technology clusters, and changes in the top 100 countries show that innovative activity in certain emerging economies is growing particularly fast.
Japan's Tokyo and Yokohama topped the list as the world's largest science and technology clusters, followed by Shenzhen and Guangzhou in southern China's Guangdong Province and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region sharing second place, followed by Beijing in third place and Shanghai and Suzhou in eastern China's Jiangsu Province sharing fifth place.
According to WIPO, the GII Science and Technology Clusters list identifies regions around the world that have world-leading concentrations of science and technology activity.
Experts said the report once again highlighted China's strong position in global innovation. “The report demonstrates the outstanding achievements of the world's second-largest economy in promoting technological innovation and facilitating the development of technology clusters,” Wang Peng, an associate researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
Experts said that technological innovation clusters, as an important foundation of a nation's innovation ecosystem, play a vital role in promoting economic development and enhancing national competitiveness. China's scientific and technological development also shows that despite the suppression of Chinese technology enterprises and products by some countries such as the United States, China's achievements in the field of innovation are still remarkable.
China should continue to increase investment in innovation, optimize the innovation environment, and promote the formation and development of more innovation clusters, experts said.
Global Times
