Singapore is Asia's most innovative city

Singapore is Asia's most innovative city, closely followed by Sydney and Melbourne, according to a recent report by Solidiance.

Singapore is the Asia-Pacific's most innovative city, closely followed by Sydney and Melbourne, according to a recent report by Solidiance.

While China, India and Indonesia might be Asia's emerging giants, their leading cities are at the bottom of the list of 16 cities covered by the report. Too many of their cities have grown by default, without proper vision and planning.

But first what is innovation? What drives it? And why does innovation matter?

Innovation is all about coming up with something new or significantly improved, according to the OECD, which has spent a lifetime studying innovation issues.

The "something new" can be virtually anything like a product, process, marketing method or an organisational method in business practices, workplace organisation, external relations, and so on.

What drives innovation? The key thing is to have an "eco-system" that faciliates and encourages innovation. The essential ingredients in this innovation cocktail are: a rich availability of educated and skillful human talent; knowledge creation produced by tertiary education institutes, firms, and government; city livability and tolerance of deviant norms and failure; technology advancement; a favorable regulatory framework; and global integration and future-orientation as reflected by a high level of connectivity and environmental sustainability.

These key criteria are inspired by Richard Florida’s Creative Class & Creative Economy. He argues that a ‘creative class’ of professionals including entrepreneurs, doctors and artists, is an essential wellspring for economic growth as they promote innovation. And innovative cities must be able to attract such talent.

Innovative cities mean a stronger and more competitive economy, a more dynamic society, and more effective governance. "Competition is no longer at a country level but rather, at a city level", as emphasized by Solidance Managing Partner Asia, Damien Duhamel. Hence the city focus of the report.

Innovation can also help solve global problems like climate change, infectious diseases and global poverty. And innovative cities are "much more fun", as we are reminded by Charles Hampden Turner from the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge.

Solidance rank some 16 cities from the Asia-Pacific, based on these innovation criteria. Singapore wins the "Gold Medal" as the Asia-Pacific's most innovative city, while the other cities on the league table are: Sydney, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Auckland, Tokyo, Seoul, Osaka, Pusan, Taipei, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Beijing, Shanghai, Mumbai and New Delhi.

Here are some highlights from the report's city notes:

-- Singapore has built the most attractive ecosystem for companies to innovate in Asia Pacific as it constantly strives for leapfrog improvements and visible changes. The openness of the Lion City to other cultures is matched by no other city in the Asia-Pacific. To retain its leading position, Singapore will have few other routes but to remain smartly opened to new ideas, new cultures, and new entrants.

(Bytheway, a good friend of mine who is a journalist living in Singapore claims that it is the only truly global city in Asia. Hong Kong has been totally absorbed by the Chinese universe.)

-- Sydney has been able to attract industrialists, IT experts, artists, activists, and green innovators, by adopting an entrepreneurial attitude. However, Sydney is probably too far from the rest of Asia and the world to have any strong regional influence.

-- Combined with Hong Kong’s traditional strengths of a transparent and consistent legal system, easy access to capital and free flow of information, the city is appraised as one of the most attractive business cities in Asia by local and foreign entrepreneurs alike. Yet Hong Kong is slowly losing out to Shanghai.

-- Tokyo is losing its shine as a hub for talented people to live and work for many reasons like cost of living, lack of global integration, loss of regional influence, poor immigration laws, distracted leadership, fear of risk taking and natural disasters. Tokyo people have innovative ideas but cannot deliver in a manner that fits today’s global business arena.

-- Bangkok is one of a kind. It is moving away from the dirt and the dirty to become a global metropolis by default.

-- Shanghai is poised to be the logistics gateway and, with some significant financial restructuring, the financial hub for all of Asia. But while it is buzzing, it is not innovative yet. To catch up on the rest of Asia Pacific cities, Shanghai has much to do.

-- Mumbai does not have the full package necessary to compete with the most innovative cities in the world due to urban decay, slums, violence and so on.

-- Jakarta has to rethink how it is to shape the city’s future. The problem lies in leadership and human capital, lack of regulatory enforcement, and socio-cultural perspective.

All of these cities have strong and weak points in their innovation profiles. As Damien Duhamel said, "Asia-Pacific cities would overall still be lagging behind some well-known Western cities".

And with urbanization and development still continuing apace in Asia, this list will evolve over time. Recall that only 30 years ago, Tokyo was Asia's leading city, Singapore was just emerging, and Shanghai was a communist backwater.

The main objective of this report is to help industry players assess the most attractive places where they can plant and grow their business. The report's excellent analysis will also be of interest to others like potential tourists and international students. Singapore's has for example some first class universities.

But another great impact of the report, especially its league table, could come from the competition it could inspire between these different cities to improve their innovative capacities. In our capitalist, market economies, competition is the rhythm of life and innovation itself!