Jakarta Absent from List of World's Most Innovative Cities in 2025

From the top 100 global innovation clusters just released, not a single city or region from Indonesia managed to make the list. This fact indicates that the nation’s innovation ecosystem still requires significant development to compete on a global level. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has released the Global Innovation Index 2025 data, mapping the world’s leading innovation clusters. The ranking is measured based on scientific publications, international patent filings, and venture capital funding activity. Innovation clusters are not always centred on a single city but encompass a broader geographical area where researchers, start-ups, and investors interact intensively. The global concentration of innovation is increasingly centred on specific regions. The world’s top ten innovation clusters account for nearly 40% of total global patent filings. Meanwhile, the top 100 clusters, originating from 33 countries, contribute around 70% of all patent applications and venture capital activity worldwide. The dynamics of global innovation show that China now leads, placing 24 clusters in the top 100 list, surpassing the United States, which has 22 clusters. The top global position is held by the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou area, followed by Tokyo-Yokohama in second place, and the San Jose-San Francisco corridor, or Silicon Valley, in third. WIPO uses a bottom-up methodology to identify areas with a high concentration of inventors and scientific authors, without relying on political administrative boundaries. Therefore, a cluster can represent an entire innovation ecosystem that crosses several metropolitan areas or even national borders. The emergence of innovation clusters is heavily influenced by a mutually supportive ecosystem. Leading research universities attract scientists, start-ups attract investors, and large technology companies create commercialisation opportunities. This concentration is a main pillar of geopolitical power and global economic competition. Although China leads in numbers, the United States still dominates the commercialisation and venture capital aspects in sectors such as artificial intelligence.