No African cities feature in the top 100 cities of the 2010 global innovative economy index, published by the Melbourne-based 2thinknow Innovation Cities™ Program. Cape Town is ranked third in the emerging cities innovation index, after Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Top 100 innovative cities
| RANK | CITY | STATE | COUNTRY | REGION | 2010 GRADE |
| 1 | Boston | Massachusetts | United States | AMERICAS | 1 NEXUS |
| 2 | Paris | France | EUROPE | 1 NEXUS | |
| 3 | Amsterdam | Netherlands | EUROPE | 1 NEXUS | |
| 4 | Vienna | Austria | EUROPE | 1 NEXUS | |
| 5 | New York | New York | United States | AMERICAS | 1 NEXUS |
| 6 | Frankfurt | Germany | EUROPE | 1 NEXUS | |
| 7 | San Francisco | California | United States | AMERICAS | 1 NEXUS |
| 8 | Copenhagen | Denmark | EUROPE | 1 NEXUS | |
| 9 | Lyon | France | EUROPE | 1 NEXUS | |
| 10 | Hamburg | Germany | EUROPE | 1 NEXUS | |
| 11 | Berlin | Germany | EUROPE | 1 NEXUS | |
| 12 | Toronto | Canada | AMERICAS | 1 NEXUS | |
| 13 | Stuttgart | Germany | EUROPE | 1 NEXUS | |
| 14 | London | United Kingdom | EUROPE | 1 NEXUS | |
| 15 | Munich | Germany | EUROPE | 1 NEXUS | |
| 16 | Milan | Italy | EUROPE | 1 NEXUS | |
| 17 | Stockholm | Sweden | EUROPE | 1 NEXUS | |
| 18 | Hong Kong | Hong Kong | Hong Kong | ASIA | 1 NEXUS |
| 19 | Melbourne | VIC | Australia | ASIA | 1 NEXUS |
| 20 | Tokyo | Tokyo | Japan | ASIA | 1 NEXUS |
| 21 | Rome | Italy | EUROPE | 1 NEXUS | |
| 22 | Kyoto | Kyoto | Japan | ASIA | 1 NEXUS |
| 23 | Washington DC | District of Columbia | United States | AMERICAS | 1 NEXUS |
| 24 | Shanghai | Shanghai | China | ASIA | 1 NEXUS |
| 25 | Düsseldorf | Germany | EUROPE | 1 NEXUS | |
| 26 | Barcelona | Spain | EUROPE | 1 NEXUS | |
| 27 | Seoul | Korea, South | ASIA | 1 NEXUS | |
| 28 | Sydney | NSW | Australia | ASIA | 1 NEXUS |
| 29 | Prague | Czech Republic | EUROPE | 1 NEXUS | |
| 30 | Philadelphia | Pennsylvania | United States | AMERICAS | 1 NEXUS |
| 31 | Singapore | Singapore | ASIA | 2 HUB | |
| 32 | Brussels | Belgium | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 33 | Strasbourg | France | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 34 | Montréal | Canada | AMERICAS | 2 HUB | |
| 35 | Seattle | Washington | United States | AMERICAS | 2 HUB |
| 36 | Nantes | France | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 37 | Helsinki | Finland | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 38 | Marseille | France | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 39 | Leipzig | Germany | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 40 | Cologne | Germany | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 41 | Toulouse | France | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 42 | Karlsruhe | Germany | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 43 | Bordeaux | France | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 44 | Austin | Texas | United States | AMERICAS | 2 HUB |
| 45 | Minneapolis-St Paul | Minnesota | United States | AMERICAS | 2 HUB |
| 46 | Oslo | Norway | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 47 | Chicago | Illinois | United States | AMERICAS | 2 HUB |
| 48 | Wellington | New Zealand | ASIA | 2 HUB | |
| 49 | Dresden | Germany | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 50 | Tel Aviv | Israel | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 51 | Auckland | New Zealand | ASIA | 2 HUB | |
| 52 | Fukoaka | Fukoaka | Japan | ASIA | 2 HUB |
| 53 | Beijing | Beijing | China | ASIA | 2 HUB |
| 54 | Geneva | Switzerland | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 55 | The Hague | Netherlands | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 56 | Abu Dhabi | United Arab Emirates | EMERGING | 2 HUB | |
| 57 | Montpellier | France | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 58 | Manchester | United Kingdom | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 59 | Zürich | Switzerland | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 60 | Madrid | Spain | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 61 | Budapest | Hungary | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 62 | Nuremberg | Germany | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 63 | Ann Arbor | Michigan | United States | AMERICAS | 2 HUB |
| 64 | Edinburgh | United Kingdom | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 65 | Bonn | Germany | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 66 | Aachen | Germany | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 67 | Essen | Germany | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 68 | Glasgow | United Kingdom | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 69 | Los Angeles | California | United States | AMERICAS | 2 HUB |
| 70 | Rotterdam | Netherlands | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 71 | Calgary | Alberta | Canada | AMERICAS | 2 HUB |
| 72 | Raleigh-Durham | North Carolina | United States | AMERICAS | 2 HUB |
| 73 | Dortmund | Germany | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 74 | Québec | Canada | AMERICAS | 2 HUB | |
| 75 | Vancouver | Canada | AMERICAS | 2 HUB | |
| 76 | Basel | Switzerland | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 77 | Reims | France | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 78 | Springfield | Massachusetts | United States | AMERICAS | 2 HUB |
| 79 | Pittsburgh | Pennsylvania | United States | AMERICAS | 2 HUB |
| 80 | Linz | Austria | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 81 | Torino | Italy | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 82 | Portland | Oregon | United States | AMERICAS | 2 HUB |
| 83 | Antwerp | Belgium | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 84 | St Petersburg | Russia | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 85 | Hannover | Germany | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 86 | Nice | France | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 87 | Dallas-Fort Worth | Texas | United States | AMERICAS | 2 HUB |
| 88 | Kobe | Hyogo | Japan | ASIA | 2 HUB |
| 89 | Venice | Italy | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 90 | Denver | Colorado | United States | AMERICAS | 2 HUB |
| 91 | Kiel | Germany | EUROPE | 2 HUB | |
| 92 | Baltimore | Maryland | United States | AMERICAS | 2 HUB |
| 93 | Osaka | Osaka | Japan | ASIA | 2 HUB |
| 94 | São Paulo | Brazil | AMERICAS | 2 HUB | |
| 95 | Edmonton | Canada | AMERICAS | 2 HUB | |
| 96 | Belgrade | Serbia | EUROPE | 3 NODE | |
| 97 | Moscow | Russia | EUROPE | 3 NODE | |
| 98 | Buenos Aires | Argentina | AMERICAS | 3 NODE | |
| 99 | Dubai | United Arab Emirates | EMERGING | 3 NODE | |
| 100 | Atlanta | Georgia | United States | AMERICAS | 3 NODE |
Key to index
All cities are graded into award categories based on their index score, in descending order of importance to the innovation economy:
NEXUS: Critical nexus for innovation across economic and social segments
HUB: Dominance or influence on key economic and social segments given current trends
NODE: Broad performance across many segments, some imbalances
INFLUENCER: Competitive in some segments, imbalanced
UPSTART: Potential steps towards future performance in a few segments (new in 2010)
Emerging cities innovation index
| GLOBAL RANK | CITY | STATE | COUNTRY | REGION | 2010 GRADE |
| 1 | Abu Dhabi | United Arab Emirates | EMERGING | 2 HUB | |
| 2 | Dubai | United Arab Emirates | EMERGING | 3 NODE | |
| 3 | Capetown | South Africa | EMERGING | 3 NODE | |
| 4 | Jeddah | Saudi Arabia | EMERGING | 3 NODE | |
| 5 | Casablanca | Morocco | EMERGING | 4 INFLUENCER | |
| 6 | Doha | Qatar | EMERGING | 4 INFLUENCER | |
| 7 | Riyadh | Saudi Arabia | EMERGING | 4 INFLUENCER | |
| 8 | Kuwait City | Kuwait | EMERGING | 4 INFLUENCER | |
| 9 | Kiev | Ukraine | EMERGING | 4 INFLUENCER | |
| 10 | Manama | Bahrain | EMERGING | 4 INFLUENCER | |
| 11 | Johannesburg | South Africa | EMERGING | 4 INFLUENCER | |
| 12 | Minsk | Belarus | EMERGING | 5 UPSTART | |
| Dakar | Senegal | EMERGING | – | ||
| Dar es Salaam | Tanzania | EMERGING | – | ||
| Nairobi | Kenya | EMERGING | – | ||
| Port Louis | Mauritius | EMERGING | – |
According to the Innovation Cities Program, each city was selected from 1,540 cities based on basic factors of health, wealth, population, geography. The selected 289 cities had data extracted the city benchmarking data program on 162 indicators. Each of the benchmarking data were scored by analysts using a vast variety of web and print sources. Where data was unavailable, national or state estimates were used.
Data was then trend weighted against 21 global trends (from a summary of key trend thinkers from Oxford, Harvard and elsewhere.) And the final index had a zeitgeist (market confidence) factor added, and was competitively graded into 5 bands with the top 100 cities ranked.
The 4 regional indexes for Americas, Europe, Asia and Emerging are derived from the global index.
Interesting that 7 of the top 10 so-called innovators are cities of the ‘old’ European world.
It seems that for the duration of this age, Africa will always fall under ‘developing’. regardless of the assessment criteria. Embedded prejudice is not ours alone…
The Monocle annual review of the world’s most liveable cities is also out and again no African cities make that list (but nor do any US cities; and even Hong Kong misses out). See http://www.monocle.com/specials/35_cities/ for a preview.