(Yicai) Sept. 9 -- The Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster maintained the first spot in the World Intellectual Property Organization's top 100 innovation clusters ranking for the second year in a row.

Tokyo-Yokohama, San Jose-San Francisco, Seoul, and Beijing made up the rest of the top five biggest Global Innovation Index Innovation Clusters, based on "concentrations of innovative activity identified by WIPO through the analysis of international patent filings, scientific publications, and venture capital deals," the organization announced yesterday. The Shanghai-Suzhou, New York City, London, Boston-Cambridge, and Paris clusters round out the top 10.

The GII cluster initiative maps cities or regions that bring together universities, researchers, inventors, VC, and research and development activity, guiding policymakers and business leaders to create conditions for breakthrough ideas to flourish. China with 25 and the United States with 20 host the most clusters, followed by Germany with seven and India and the United Kingdom with four each.

"The world's leading clusters are building blocks of national innovation ecosystems and show the importance of strong connections among research, enterprise, talent and investment," said Daren Tang, director general of the WIPO. "Their spread across regions reflects the increasing capacity of economies to translate innovation into economic and social impact."

From a regional perspective, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Oceania have the most clusters on the list with 36, followed by 30 in Europe and 23 in North America. From the rest, five are in Central and South Asia, four in North Africa and West Asia, and two in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev