We particularly enjoyed the 24/7 Wall St article, and slideshow by 24/7 Wall St.

http://247wallst.com/2011/10/18/the-most-innovative-cities-in-america/

For the indexes, note 2thinknow does not directly measure patents, 2thinknow measure innovation at an earlier stage. We are interested in the economic development of cities short term with innovation. (This was misreported in a few new stories). However, there is a positive correlation between our Index conditions and patents in general.

Thanks to Business Insider’s Abby Rogers, for her added comment and slideshow analysis. Read the full BI story here.

A special note to Richard Florida, who tweeted about our Index again — and is a pioneer of the modern cities movement. Scott Kirsner of the Boston Globe also tweeted us (and was among the first journalists in 2009 to give us a top tier interview).

These are some of the other interesting news stories we received in North and South American newspapers, journals and news sites:

Huffington Post: “America’s Most Innovative Cities: 24/7 Wall St.”

The Seattle Times: “Seattle makes list of elite innovative cities”

SmartPlanet (United States): “Top 10 most innovative cities”

My NorthWest (Seattle): “Seattle ranks among most innovative cities in U.S.”

Geekwire: “Seattle is the 25th most innovative city in the world“

Huffington Post (Canada): “Innovation Cities Index 2011: Toronto Named Among 10 Most Innovative Cities In The World”

Financial Post (Canada): ” Toronto among world’s top 10 most innovative cities”

Canada.Com: “Toronto among world’s top 10 most innovative cities”

Estado (Brazil): ” Boston is the world’s most innovative city(Boston é a cidade mais inovadora do mundo)”

Exame (Brazil): ” Why Brazil is not in the ranking of the 100 innovative cities(Por que o Brasil não está no ranking das 100 cidades inovadoras)”

Exame (Brazil): “Check out Boston, the city’s most innovative on the planet(Conheça Boston, a cidade mais inovadora do planeta)”

Forbes previously mentioned us here

Thanks to the Mayor of Boston, Thomas Menino’s shout out for 2thinknow at the Mass Innovation awards (which spies told us got a whooping round of applause). We heard a few other mayoral stories, including some mentions by our own Mayor Robert Doyle, of Melbourne.

Thanks as always, to our friend in the innovation economy, Rich Bendis of Innovation America — for his coverage here.

Some other interesting mentions were the World Future Society, Bost Innovation, Mayor Menino vs Mayor Bloomberg (!), Washington Clean Energy and quite a few others.

Please note we are aware of printed newspaper articles which we may not have captured. If there are any significant articles captured not listed here, you can let us know and we will up date this site.

The analysts at 2thinknow were of course flattered by this coverage for our innovation agency from these sources.

For Asian and Europe see this separate coverage.

2011 City Results

The 5th Annual Innovation Cities Index was released today by 2thinknow, classifying city innovation globally. The release includes 4 regional and 2 global indexes for 331 benchmark cities, across 80+ countries.

INDEXES > TOP 100 | AMERICAS | EUROPE | ASIA | EMERGING | GLOBAL

View short Media Release + Read the 2011 FAQ

Please reproduce the index results in articles, blogs and media as per license terms.

Order Report

The October edition Innovation Cities Analysis Report on the Index, city trends and building urban innovation economies, is available to order. > New Edition > Report Site > Order!

Subscribe

For those interested in one city’s performance, data and analyst briefing services are now bundled available via > Innovation Cities Program subscription.

Media Release

This is an extended Media Release, please use as appropriate.

DATE: Tuesday, 18TH October 2011.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – Boston came first again in a field of 331 cities in the Innovation Cities Global Index. This year’s top cities were rounded out by San Francisco Bay Area, Paris, New York and Vienna, as the 5th annual index was released today by analysts from innovation agency 2thinknow. 2thinknow is based in Melbourne, Australia.

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data identified innovation as the key driver of economic recovery from previous recessions and downturns for nations, and 2thinknow’s annual index extends this to cities.

Melbourne came tops over an improved Sydney this year for innovation, in the 5^th Annual Innovation Cities Asia Index.  Tokyo and Shanghai rounded out the top five cities, in the index released today by analysts from innovation agency 2thinknow.

The Innovation Cities Asia Index was one of four regional and two global indexes released in Melbourne, today.

European cities continued to place well globally, often indicating a separation between city and national performance.

Comparing European cities in the global indexes, Germany’s Munich continued climbing up to 7th place globally from 15th. Amid struggling UK cities London improved to 11th from 14th, as Manchester (32nd) rose to Nexus status for the first time. In Europe, Italian and Spanish cities fell further outside the top rankings, with Barcelona (19), Milan (16), Madrid (52) and Torino (80) ranked counter to poor national trends. Other top tier European Nexus cities listed included Amsterdam (6), Lyon (8), Copenhagen (9), Frankfurt (12), Hamburg (13) and Berlin (14).

According to 2thinknow Executive Director, Christopher Hire, “Key cities will perform out of pattern with nations, as nations enter or exit economic malaise, or multi-speed economies.”

In 2011, 331 benchmarked cities were scored on 162 indicators by 2thinknow based on their facility to generate product, process, service and other innovation types across an urban economy. Results are classified into five bands of performance including top-tier Nexus and Hub cities, followed by globally competitive Node cities.

According to 2thinknow, Executive Director, Christopher Hire, the “Innovation Cities Global Index measures cities as innovation economies. We collect and assess data for transport, universities, arts, design, sustainability, economics, start-up facilities, labour, technology and other indicators to measure the opportunity cities offer their citizens.”

The analysts noted that city performance can be faster to turn around than overall national performance. All indexes are available on www.innovation-cities.com

The analysts first named Boston as the second-top global innovation destination in 2007. In 2011, the analysts stated that Boston’s dominant institutions Harvard and MIT, coupled with a strengthening start-up and arts in global networks kept the city number one overall globally across multiple economic segments in the turbulent national economic cycle. In Canada, Nexus city Toronto moved up two places to 10th globally. Montreal joined Seattle and Los Angeles as North American Nexus cities for the first time.

The top 10% of 331 cities were classified as Nexus cities by the analysts. Nexus cities were the analysts best general destinations for innovation, followed by the next 73 Hub cities named as challengers in many sectors of the city economy. The balance of cities were classified as Node cities or in two lower performance bands. According to the analyst’s classification, Node cities are globally competitive for innovation.

In 2011 the Index uniquely foresees stronger U.S. innovation performance over 2 to 5 years, based on mid-size city businesses seeking innovation opportunities in global cities. 2thinknow noted that across the USA, most major U.S. cities were likely to be globally competitive Node or above, by meeting mid-level benchmarks for innovation. The analysts identified Human Infrastructure and Cultural Asset investment as key to stronger U.S. performance.

Hong Kong climbed to 15th globally and first Nexus in Asia, ahead of Australia’s city economies represented by Melbourne and Sydney, at 17th and 20th respectively. A weakened Tokyo moved temporarily down to 22nd place ahead of a steady Shanghai (24) among a record 24% Asian Nexus cities, also including Seoul. China’s economic performance to date was reflected by more Chinese cities than ever in the global Index, and the entry of cities like Wuhan and Chengdu for the first time.

Global Hub cities rising in the analyst rankings this year included Bordeaux, Vancouver, Budapest, Tel Aviv, Orlando and Shenzhen. Well-known cities the analysts discounted significantly this year included St Petersburg, Moscow and Buenos Aires (replaced in South America by São Paulo). Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod technology city and Rostov-na-Donu entered the Index for the first time, as Mumbai became India’s first Hub city. Cape Town this year became the first African Hub city. Adelaide in Australia also became an Asian Hub based on new investment activity.

According to 2thinknow, Executive Director, Christopher Hire, the “Innovation Cities Global Index measures cities as innovation economies. This goes beyond technology or patents alone. 2thinknow analysts also collect data on assess transport, universities, arts, design, sustainability, economics, start-up facilities, labor as well as other factors to measure the opportunities cities offer their citizens. We aim to measure cities economic opportunity not nations.”

In 2011 the 331 cities benchmarked for innovation, up from 289 cities in 2010 and compared with 256 cities in 2009. The top 125 cities were ranked by the analysts based on 21 current global trends, listed in the accompanying Innovation Cities Analysis report. The indicators framework, models and global analysis of trend impact were also outlined in the report. 2thinknow launched the index in 2007 and expanded the index in 2009 to 289 cities.

Each year, the global index and top rankings are released with four regional indexes, that classify and then rank the top cities for North & South America, Europe, Asia and Emerging regions. In 2007 the analysts predicted the Global Financial Crisis as a “September (2008) shock event”, and Indexes predicted London’s fall and foresaw counter-cyclical strong performance of German and French cities overall.

Cities move in the Index over 2 or 3 year periods, and many city classifications have been relatively stable year on year since 2009.

— ENDS—

SPOKESPERSON

Christopher Hire
Executive Director
2thinknow ICP

+61 409 787 960 (Mobile)
+61 3 9935 2927
TIME: Melbourne, Australia (AEST)

Rapid email: media@2thinknow.com

Cities Data

Separately, City Benchmarking Data from the 2thinknow Index is city-level available to order for any 331 benchmark cities (from all regions) for all 162 indicators, or any mix of cities and indicators for city data projects. > Data Site

For single cities this data is bundled with annual reports, at a discount via top-tier subscriptions via Innovation Cities Program subscription.

Recently 2thinknow were featured in Connected Magazine, Canada. Here’s a quote from the article:

Thanks to such a large population, Toronto exports the same amount of information and communication technology as the whole of Australia, and has a strong technology sector in terms of “human infrastructure,” says Christopher Hire, executive director of Australian consulting innovation analysts 2thinknow, which annually produces an innovation ranking of cities. . “Economically, Toronto has the right cluster of start-ups and business support,” Hire says. “Toronto is the most-connected Canadian city.”

The article was by editor / journalist Andy Holloway. The article focuses on tech innovation.

2thinknow measure broad-based innovation, including non-technological innovation. This includes 162 standard city indicators on all world cities. This underlying cities data in our analysis is available for Toronto, and over 300 world cities from: www.citybenchmarkingdata.com

Toronto, Canada is ranked #12 in our Innovation Cities Index 2010. This is a broad-based series of multi-indicator scores that explains Toronto’s ascent (however we re-balance factor weightings each year). The basis of the analysis, and 2010 rankings, is explained in the Innovation Cities Analysis Report: http://report.innovation-cities.com

The new 2011 index launches end of Q3, 2011. It will be available here: www.innovation-cities.com

New Canadian city data inclusions include Fredericton-St John, and Moncton.

Innovation Discovery for Government: is a new 2thinknow governmental service for creating better policy at a lower cost to taxpayers, through innovation.

Innovation Discovery is a global innovation search to discover the best available policy options for a policy problem governmental staff, ministers & advisers face. The service solves difficult, rapidly-evolving or otherwise challenging policy problems through use of a variety of data sources.

Where Innovation Discovery is of greatest benefit is in the saving of taxpayer funds spent on areas such as consultants, or interstate travel. The focus of Innovation Discovery by 2thinknow is about the scoping and briefing of global policy ideas, tested against cultural alignment in your policy environment.

Our clients make internal savings of 60%+ off the price of ministerial travel, and consultants. This has other benefits — such as work-life balance for public servants, and enhanced career satisfaction for public servants.

The Innovation Discovery service is only offered by 2thinknow, and the outcome is a briefing and report (either slides or a document) that discusses the best available policy options.

The service uses a robust process that delivers ideas that have worked in other areas. It relies on 2thinknow proprietary data-set, contacts and methodology to deliver implementation-ready policy ideas to policy advisers, ministerial staffers and the public service.

Currently this service is available to public servants in Federal, State or Local Government in a variety of locations.

Ask 2thinknow for your full email or phone briefing on the Innovation Discovery for Government Services today. > Contact

Host the Innovation Course™ training workshops in cities around the world.

The Innovation Course™ uniquely uses 2thinknow’s extensive innovation library of data and case studies from sectors and cities. This allows your participants to safely apply innovation in real-world conditions, with exercises from idea generation to implementation to communication.

Learn in 2 day standard, 1 day express, or 3-4 day deep-dive courses. Held at your office, at a training centre in your city.

2thinknow : 1st Innovation Agency

Brought to you by first innovation agency 2thinknow est. 2006. As seen in the Boston Globe, CNET, ABC, Fox, and local newspapers worldwide.

Innovation Skills Training

The Innovation Course focuses on innovation skills, and practical models for innovation.

Innovation Careers

Become the innovation experts in your company and industry. Re-brand yourself with innovation — and give your career a boost only with the Innovation Course™ by 2thinknow.

Vendor Certification

2thinknow can also provide vendor-certification in innovation, for professionals.

Only the Innovation Course™ by 2thinknow transfers innovation skills to your team and challenges.

Innovation training: book the Innovation Course™ workshop for your team.

> Go to the Innovation Course™ site

Below is a recent piece  in Le Devoir about New York’s approach to sparking ideas (and potentially, innovation):

From the article (translated):

The City of New York recently concluded its first Festival of Ideas, which aims to develop the creative potential of the city by exploring new avenues in different sectors. The festival is held on the themes of the heterogeneous city, the city network, the city reconfigured, and the sustainable city through culture, community, education and participation.

New York’s scaled down few segment approach, further validates the 2thinknow 31 segment model for innovation, for smaller cities.It will be interesting to see if they can take that next step from ideas to actual change. We still rank Boston above New York for innovation, and do not expect that to change in 2011.

Other cities have held a festival of ideas (with no net change in innovation), so time will tell.

An innovation model.

2thinknow have the resources for cities to take a broad view of their city, and draw on our custom data-set of approaching 112,000 data points for 31 segments — to make change relevant to each city.

2thinknow assists cities, with events, data and analyst advice using this model.

Here’s the article in French:

City Benchmarking Data™ is key industry or community data intelligence on any cities worldwide. Only from 2thinknow.

2thinknow produce the largest independent analyst data-set benchmarking city performance worldwide, with up to 162 indicators of data available to purchase for over 1,600 urban centers in 2011-12.

All data is delivered ‘ready-to-go’, licensed for your organizational use in multiple formats including spreadsheets, graphs and slides.

As seen in the Boston Globe or Reuters through the Innovation Cities™ Program and Index, and purchased by R&D departments, management consultants, multi-national corporations, city governments, chambers, trade boards, mayors, think tanks, tech firms and others worldwide.

Customer City Data Uses

Industry Data by Location
2thinknow have created a number of projects since 2006. Our group since 1999 have created scorecards to measure change performance. Our group created Australia’s first environmental scorecard for retailers at LendLease. In 2010, we revised LBG’s data process for benchmarking major Australian corporations for Corporate Social Responsibility.

Government Policy Data
2thinknow have worked on quick end-to-end projects for government based on design of scorecards and metrics. In 2009 we designed communication dashboards for state government ministers and their advisers to measure change.

Community : Social Innovation Metrics
We design scorecards for various community purposes, and our group has done work for the Anglican Retirement, Catholic Education and various NGOs seeking to embrace change in financial and business arrangements.

City Benchmarking Data™ by 2thinknow: Leading metrics to measure cities.

Resource Site > City Benchmarking Data™

Combine data with other innovation services.

Request data benchmarking as part of business, government and community innovation consulting services. Or do a course in innovation metrics, with a custom version of the Innovation Course™. Combine with other tools from the Innovation Toolkit by 2thinknow.

The Innovation Cities™ Analysis Report.

2thinknow publish the the Innovation Cities™ Analysis Report. The first and leading annual report on creating urban innovation economies. Purchased by government, chambers, cities, R&D, corporations, researchers, trade boards, mayors, think tanks, tech firms and others globally.

Part of the Innovation Cities Program, as seen in major media.

More on > dedicated report site.

Custom Innovation Analyst Reports

Creative Company Analyst Reports

Our well-constructed professional analyst reports apply the latest innovation frameworks outlined in the Innovation Course™ to your business problems. Affordable, and including a 3 stage phone consultation, with a wide variety of options.

Industry Analysis Reports

Leveraging our case studies and city benchmarking data, 2thinknow creates unique innovation analysis reports. Our innovation analysts provide solutions and insights to industries facing disruption.

City Planning Reports

This anlyst report is a detailed change plan to change your city or town. Each City Change Planning Report is structured to apply the Innovation Cities™ Framework and benchmarking data to your city or suburban municipality. The city process include detailed in-person and phone consultations.

Community Change Reports

For towns, suburban fringes, regions, communities, NGOs and others; the community change plan can be integrated to follow the Local Innovation Forum™ event, for an affordable start to changing your community.

Global City Markets

Analyst reports service is available globally in most cases. Events, courses and in-person services are available in USA, Canada, Europe, Oceania, Japan and many more locations. For more information > See Service Locations

Understand innovation, with 2thinknow Analyst Reports.

> Request an email Proposal for your Analyst Report.

Supporting Innovation Services

Start with the Innovation Course™ for your team, to identify innovation opportunities or change problems. Organize a  Local Innovation Forum™ event in your city or town, to inspire opportunities.

For more options, see the Innovation Toolkit by 2thinknow.