Shanghai among first winners of UN agency's City of Innovation award

 

(ECNS) — Shanghai was named one of the first winners of the World Intellectual Property Organization's City of Innovation award, the organization announced Monday in Geneva.

Shanghai was selected from 15 finalists from 11 countries across Asia, Europe and Africa, including cities of different sizes.

The organization highlighted Shanghai’s efforts to integrate innovation and creativity into urban development by expanding intellectual property services, sharing innovation facilities and supporting collaboration and cultural industries.

Launched in 2026, the award recognizes cities’ efforts to foster innovation and creativity. Shanghai applied after being recommended by the China National Intellectual Property Administration.

In 2025, Shanghai’s gross domestic product reached 5.67 trillion yuan ($846 billion), ranking among the world’s top five urban economies. Research and development spending accounted for 4.5% of GDP, while the city’s integrated circuit, biomedicine and artificial intelligence industries together exceeded 2 trillion yuan in scale.

As of June 2026, Shanghai had 67.6 high-value invention patents per 10,000 people. The Shanghai-Suzhou innovation cluster also remains among the world’s leading innovation hubs.

(By Helen Mo & intern Liu Shuangjing)