The 25 most high-tech cities in the world Part 1

By Chris Weller From Business Insider

Cities are the way of the future.

In less than 35 years, the World Health Organization estimates that two-thirds of the world population will be living in urban areas. That’s an additional 2.5 billion people. The cities that will flourish the most are those that rely on cutting-edge technologies and create opportunities for people to develop new ones.

To get a sense of which cities do that the best, Business Insider consulted 2thinknow, a research firm that specializes in analyzing innovative cities, to rank the most high-tech cities in the world.

The firm chose 10 factors related to technological advancement — including the number of patents filed per capita, startups, tech venture capitalists, ranking in other innovation datasets, and level of smartphone use — weighted them, and ranked a list of 85 cities accordingly.

If you want to know what the future will look like, these are the cities to keep an eye on.

25. Washington, DC
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
The US capital has been rapidly expanding its tech scene over the last decade, growing its overall number of tech-related jobs by 50%.

In addition, more than 1,000 startups call DC home. The proximity to the federal government mixed with the deep pockets of nearby venture-capital firms makes starting a world-changing company an appealing prospect in the city.

24. Barcelona, Spain
Albert Gea/Reuters
The Spanish city cracked the top 25 for the first time since last year’s ranking, in particular for its growing population of industrial designers and prominent smartphone use.

Smartphone infrastructure is so sophisticated, in fact, that electrical boxes strewn around Barcelona contain computers that capture noise levels, traffic patterns, and how many selfies people take.

23. Copenhagen, Denmark
Flickr/Colville-Anderson
What Copenhagen lacks in startup culture and venture capital, it makes up for with innovative urban planning and a strong contingent of industrial designers — factors that 2thinknow praises as signs the city prioritizes smart manufacturing.

By 2025, the city plans to sever its dependence on fossil fuel, due in large part to harnessed wind energy. Its robust bike culture and fleet of architecture firms allow Copenhagen to be a city that’s not just green, but beautiful.

22. Hong Kong, China
Bobby Yip/Reuters
Rather than excel in one particular category, Hong Kong hits just about every box in terms of its advancement.

The city devotes enormous amount of money toward research and development and city-wide innovation, boasting some of the fastest Internet speeds in China. Its high-tech exports total $243 billion, or 51% of the total exported goods.

21. Berlin, Germany
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Not to be outdone, Germany’s capital city boasts a strong start-up culture and has some of the highest rates of venture capital investment in Europe.

Berlin is also the locus for much of Europe’s automobile industry. It is the only city in the world where all of the major automative brands are represented.

20. Shenzhen, China
Bobby Yip/Reuters
Patents are flying out of Shenzhen, a city in southern China that boasts a population of 11 million.

As part of the country’s push toward manufacturing, Shenzhen has grown significantly over the last several years as a hub for factories and robotics. Multiple telecom and electronics giants have found a home base in the city.

19. Bangalore, India
Stringer India/Reuters
No other city in 2thinknow’s ranking climbed as far compared to 2016’s ranking as Bangalore, which moved from 49th place to 19th.

The change is due to an influx of IT companies and the city’s enormous population of programmers. Half of India is under 25, and many are entering the growing tech space, creating a virtuous circle of growth.

18. Montreal, Canada
Wikimedia Commons
If you want to be an industrial designer or programmer, you should consider moving to Montreal. If you want to work in wearable technology (or virtual reality), even better.

Montreal is home to Vrvana, a VR headset manufacturer, and the companies Hexoskin and OMSignal, which both make clothes that measure wearers’ biometric signals. The city also has a fairly strong startup culture.

17. Shanghai, China
Reuters
The closest Shanghai has to Silicon Valley is the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park. It houses more than 100,000 workers split between thousands of tech companies.

Like most of China’s high-tech cities, Shanghai excels in patents and venture capital. That may be because manufacturing has become a top priority in China, and companies are eager to protect (and invest in) their intellectual property.

16. Beijing, China
Thomson Reuters
Though it may lack the startup culture of other high-tech cities, Beijing is renowned for its city-wide use of smartphones and the number of patents filed per capita. It venture capital scene has also grown rapidly over the past several years.

The city climbed 15 spots since the 2016 rankings.

15. Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Reuters
Amsterdam’s combination of financial technology, energy efficiency, and startup culture make it a powerhouse in Europe, despite being much smaller than its neighbors. (It has only a third of Berlin’s population, for example.)

In April, lawmakers announced they wanted to ban gas and diesel cars by 2025 in favor of electric vehicles — perhaps the city’s most visible sign of its look toward the future.

14. Vancouver, Canada
Kenny Louie/Flickr
In 2014, the CBC called Vancouver “Silicon Valley North” in recognition of its strong start-up culture.

There are more than 600 digital media companies that generate more than $2 billion in revenue. Tech-focused universities and low corporate tax rates, meanwhile, make the city attractive for both up-and-coming engineers as well as established executives.

13. Stockholm, Sweden
Shutterstock
With missions to go cash-free and oil-free within the next five years, Stockholm is fully embracing the digital and environmental revolutions.

The city also has the most billion-dollar startups in Europe and the world’s second-fastest-growing market for venture capital investments. It’s no wonder that programmers are flocking to the Swedish capital.

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