The most innovative cities – a Paymentsense global index

Cities around the world are constantly changing. Whether it's building new office spaces, working on infrastructure, or opening new and exciting tourist attractions, there is always a degree of competition to see which city can generate the most interest and growth.

Everyone wants to be the first to come up with the best new 'thing', so attempts at innovation are ubiquitous. Making changes to established systems in business, lifestyle, finance, and everything else we experience in cities is key to keeping residents around, stimulating economic growth, and remaining ahead of the curve. 

Because of these attempts to innovate, we at Paymentsense wanted to understand better which cities were a cut above the rest when fostering innovation. To achieve this we've created two indexes – one global and one for the UK. 

Measuring business innovation 

For the global index, we collected data for five main categories. The data points we analysed were: 

• Number of patent applications registered on Google
• Number of new business registrations in 2019
• Number of universities and their rankings (while education does not by definition imply innovation, universities have long been establishments that luckily have the time and resources to innovate in various areas)
• Average monthly search volumes and trends for 'how to start a business'
• Number of Kickstarters and their average value

Using these specific data points, we were able to show precisely how many businesses, and individuals in their respective cities were attempting to make a difference in their fields. We've created a neat index to score them all out of 100 and compare them globally to see which came out on top.

Paris is the most innovative global city, according to our index

French cities are among the most innovative in the world

With 201,087 new business registrations at the moment, Paris tops our list of most innovative cities. With £37,605.53 currently invested in Kickstarters across the country, France is experiencing a massive boom in fresh ideas and creations, placing its capital comfortably ahead of the second-place city. Inventors of braille, stethoscopes, and pencil sharpeners, the country has a longstanding reputation for being the leader in innovation, bringing countless inventions that we now take for granted into the world. Merci, Paris.

Parisian innovators of note:

• Anais Barut, co-founder and CEO of Damae Medical
• Caroline Ramade, advocate for Women in Tech, founder of female recruitment service 50inTech
• Louis Braille, inventor of braille
• Jeanne Villepreux-Power, inventor of the aquarium
• René Laennec, inventor of the stethoscope

The USA’s capital currently has 6,546,076 patent applications

The USA has been a leader in technology and business for years. Home of Apple, Microsoft, and shopping malls, countless innovations have travelled across the Atlantic from the US and adopted by other countries. This reputation makes it easy to believe that its capital, Washington DC, comes second on the list of the most innovative cities. With 82,772 new business registrations and 368,160 monthly searches for 'how to start a business', it's clear that our friends across the pond will continue to lead innovations globally for years to come.

Washington DC innovators of note:

• André Wells, owner of Events by André Wells
• Tom Davidson, founder & CEO of EVERFI, a tech company driving social change
• Rachel Koretsky, founder of the rec centre engagement software, upace
• Emilie Aries, founder and author of Bossed Up

Canberra has seen 235,654 new business applications

Leading the march in medical innovations, Canberra is third on our list of the most innovative cities. Penicillin, spray-on skin (a skin culturing treatment for skin damage victims), electronic pacemakers, and the ultrasound scan are just a few of the offerings Australian innovators have made to medicine, and they aren't stopping any time soon. Over 2,000,000 patent applications are currently in review, so it's safe to say there is plenty in the works when it comes to innovations in Canberra. 

Canberra and Australian innovators of note:

• Sunita Kumar, owner of Daana Indian Restaurant and named the 2020 Business Woman of the Year at the Canberra Women in Business (CWB) Awards
• John O'Sullivan, inventor of Wi-Fi
• David Warren, inventor of the Black Box flight recording device
• Dr Dharmica Mistry, Co-Founder and Chief Scientist at BCAL Diagnostics

Innovation is happening constantly in Berlin

Famous for innovations such as the car (no big deal), Germany has always been among the top countries making substantial technological advancements. The country currently has ​​4,700,194 patent applications, meaning its capital, Berlin, comes fourth on the list of most innovative cities. 

 German innovators of note:

• Otto Lilienthal, inventor of modern aviation
• Reinhold Burger, inventor of the Thermos
• Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, groundbreaking geneticist and Nobel Prize winner
• Ingeborg Hochmair-Desoyer, inventor of the cochlear implant

With 678,986 patents in the works, Rome is a leader in innovation

There are 3,600 searches monthly for 'how to start a business' in Rome, so it's clear to see that there are many attempts at innovating in Italy. Rome has been a centre for innovation for thousands of years, from innovations dating back to the Roman Empire, creating infrastructure as we know it, to unmatchable artistic impact. Renaissance art, opera, and high fashion (Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino, Prada, the list goes on) have all undoubtedly been affected by Italian innovation.

Italian innovators of note:

• Luigi Bezzerra, inventor of espresso
• Dr Anna Tampieri, creator of a multi-step process to convert hierarchical wood structures into scaffolds for bone tissue engineering, winner of the ITWIIN prize for Best Inventor
• Maria Montessori, humanitarian and educator with Montessori schools named after her
• Enzo Ferrari, inventor of, you guessed it, Ferrari

The top 20 most innovative cities in the world

Rank	City	Country	Patent Applications	New Business registrations	No. of top Unis	Ave. Ranking: top Unis	SV:  'how to start a business'	Ave SV trend: 'how to start a business'	No. Kickstarter ideas	Ave. Kickstarter Pledge	Innovation Index Score (out of 100)
1	Paris	France	995,194	201,087	10	68	3,210	-5.00%	2,983	£37,677.49	79.3
2	Washington D.C.	USA	6,546,076	82,773	128	70	368,160	-30.00%	4,197	£6,959.51	75.5
3	Canberra	Australia	2,113,890	235,654	27	64	26,640	-4.00%	200	£6,035.16	75.5
4	Berlin	Germany	4,700,194	72,844	23	74	6,430	-13.00%	1,913	£10,613.23	74.8
5	Rome	Italy	678,986	114,360	15	60	3,600	-6.00%	557	£19,374.40	70.5
6	Stockholm	Sweden	748,933	45,590	7	80	3,380	-13.00%	1,627	£116,974.74	70.5
7	Amsterdam	Netherlands	435,670	71,531	7	79	5,510	-11.00%	1,328	£23,180.10	69.8
8	Madrid	Spain	1,111,211	94,676	21	53	2,890	-8.00%	1,042	£18,900.42	68.0
9	Tokyo	Japan	20,319,334	29,243	33	61	3,020	-14.00%	1,128	£57,634.23	66.8
10	Beijing	China	13,252,897	82,773	68	54	1,020	35.00%	200	£10,208.20	64.3
11	Cape Town	South Africa	335,413	376,727	7	58	22,210	-12.00%	257	£5,770.58	63.3
12	New Delhi	India	81,937	123,942	13	56	215,490	17.00%	71	£4,908.66	62.0
13	Hong Kong	Hong Kong	164,596	82,773	6	76	3,120	-26.00%	3,454	£100,819.19	61.8
14	Ottawa	Canada	1,463,643	4,065	23	66	34,880	-30.00%	799	£8,696.69	61.0
15	Singapore	Singapore	144,830	43,046	2	85	6,560	-13.00%	1,813	£17,566.56	60.5
16	Brussels	Belgium	753,830	24,677	6	73	3,190	-2.00%	428	£14,527.23	60.3
17	Bangkok	Thailand	461,117	55,589	14	37	3,020	20.00%	214	£21,726.22	60.3
18	Oslo	Norway	453,311	29,959	3	68	2,880	-6.00%	457	£70,507.74	58.0
19	Wellington	New Zealand	143,129	56,380	7	62	6,300	-23.00%	328	£27,706.05	57.8
20	London	United Kingdom	3,113,086	664,974	0	0	65,390	-37.00%	19,171	£15,791.39	57.0

The most innovative cities in the UK ranked

We also wanted to focus on the most innovative cities across the UK. To do this, the following five data points were analysed and scored equally:

• Business startups per 10,000 people
• Education levels of the working population
• Percentage of highly skilled jobs
• Average monthly online searches and trends for 'how to start a business' over the past 12 months
• Number of new Kickstarter ideas and the average amounts pledged

London is the UK’s most innovative city

With 107 startups opening in 2019, compared to 89 business closures in the same year, the professional landscape of London is growing. £9,127.90 is currently invested in London-based Kickstarters, showing the city's vast amount of new business growth. The city where underground rail became a possibility for the first time and vacuum cleaners came onto the scene to make all of our lives easier; it's no shock that the UK capital is top of this list.

Londononer innovators of note include:

• Nick Beighton, CEO of ASOS
• Julia Fowler and Geoff Watts, founders of data analytics platform EDITED
• Ed Rex, founder of Jukedeck, an AI music software company

Bristol comes second in the list of most innovative cities in the UK

Home to one of the best universities in the country, inventor of motorcycle side-cars, and pioneer of beating heart surgery, Bristol has many strings to its innovating bow. Close behind London, with nearly £11,000,000 invested in Kickstarters, Bristol's innovations keep coming.

Bristolian innovators of note:

• Dr Alex Young, the founder of AR company, Virti, put on TIME's Best Inventions list for 2020
• Sarah Guppy, co-designer of the Clifton Suspension Bridge
• Carmen Beckford, co-founder of the St Paul's Carnival 

Scotland’s second-largest city is the third most innovative in the UK

Edinburgh saw 55 business startups per 10,000 people in 2019. The historical city is constantly growing, and with 1,845 Kickstarters open at the moment, there is plenty of opportunity for innovation in every field. The city is the host of the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world, and this is just one instance of world-leading innovation coming out of the city.

Edinburgh innovators of note:

• Alexander Cumming, inventor of the flushing toilet
• Marion A S Ross, inventor of the X-Ray
• Alexander Grant, inventor of the Digestive Biscuit (thank you, Alexander)

£11,481.62 is invested in Manchester Kickstarters

Heading up the innovative cities list for the North of England, Manchester has countless historical innovations to its name. The first canal, atomic theory, competitive football, and the Rolls Royce came from the city. And judging by how much is currently invested in Kickstarter campaigns, there are plenty of new ideas still to come out of Manchester.

Mancunian innovators of note:

• Henry Royce, inventor of the Rolls Royce
• William Cowherd, pioneer of Vegetarianism (with a very apt name)
• Dr Marilyn Comrie, Director at The Blair Project

There were 53 new business start-ups per 10,000 people in Leeds in 2019

The science that led to the discovery of DNA began in Leeds, as well as the extremely successful gaming franchise, Grand Theft Auto. From Leeds-born Olympians making history in their sports, to world famous musicians making huge strides in their genres, Leeds has been innovative in both the sciences and arts for a long time. With 1,970 monthly searches for ‘how to start a business’, it seems that many more Leeds-based innovators want to throw their hats in the ring.

Leeds innovators of note:

• Nicola Adams, the first woman to win a boxing title at the Olympics
• John Waddington, founder of Waddington’s, the game company that brought us Monopoly and Cluedo
• Elsie Reed, CEO of social enterprise group, The Tech Ladder

The top 20 most innovative cities in the UK

Rank	City	No. of startups[1]	% of ‘qualified’ workforce [1]	% of skilled knowledge jobs[1]	SV: 'how to start a business'[1]	Ave SV trend: 'how to start a business'[1]	No. of Kickstarters[1]	Ave. Kickstarter Pledge[1]	Innovation Index Score (out of 100)
1	London	107	53.3	23.7	11960	-32.00%	16835	£9,141.08	86.4
2	Bristol	56	46.7	18.7	1770	-18.00%	1121	£7,947.60	82.5
3	Edinburgh	55	57.5	21.5	1460	-28.00%	1845	£4,462.50	78.5
4	Manchester	65	38.0	15.7	1970	-25.00%	1373	£11,498.19	78.5
5	Leeds	53	40.1	19	1710	-6.00%	787	£3,688.12	77.8
6	Glasgow	48	47.4	14.2	1730	-4.00%	996	£4,673.41	77.6
7	Brighton	88	55.3	15.1	890	8.00%	216	£3,114.88	74.1
8	Reading	66	51.0	25.3	1080	-27.00%	154	£4,786.72	73.5
9	Cambridge	55	69.6	15.3	790	-22.00%	456	£12,127.26	72.1
10	Northampton	89	33.7	14.8	1050	60.00%	238	£3,227.45	72.1
11	Southampton	79	39.4	13	760	-19.00%	319	£12,516.30	68.7
12	Milton Keynes	74	43.9	17.9	910	-30.00%	154	£4,716.12	68.7
13	Aberdeen	50	54.9	16.6	896	-15.47%	178	£2,434.55	64.4
14	Liverpool	59	36.3	12.7	1550	-20.00%	713	£3,402.58	67.1
15	Nottingham	40	36.3	12.6	1180	-10.00%	832	£16,454.30	67.1
16	Bournemouth	53	39.4	17.7	1000	-21.00%	312	£4,356.21	67.3
17	Leicester	59	35.5	12.9	1510	-12.00%	261	£3,062.02	66.4
18	Slough	80	40.3	15.9	1090	-31.00%	12	£27,374.48	66.2
19	Sheffield	41	41.3	11.2	1420	-18.00%	629	£4,834.46	63.7
20	Belfast	42	40.2	12.4	1030	-16.00%	406	£5,447.09	63.3

 

How to maximise innovation in your space

There are various ways to ensure innovation can happen. Creating something brand new and stepping away from the status quo is not an easy thing to do. So it is vital to make the right environment that will allow a city's most creative and entrepreneurial individuals to use their skills with no obstacles in the way. The not-so-secret formula to doing this can be replicated on a global and individual business scale to ensure everyone has the space to innovate.

Foster diversity 

With diversity comes a wealth of different and varied knowledge that is bound to impact creativity and innovation in a city or business positively. More diversity between people in a space means more viewpoints will be shared, and consequently, innovations can be made that take everyone into account. Ensuring an area has a representative mixture of ethnicities, genders, ages, and experience levels will help creativity be at a maximum.

Encourage creativity

It may seem obvious, but innovation cannot happen in an environment that doesn't allow individuals to be creative with their ideas. If you want to come up with brand new, industry-leading ideas, it is necessary to foster creativity every day and not stifle it in any way. While innovations may happen in a non-supportive environment due to a particularly determined person, giving creative space and freedom to a group will allow much more to happen.

Create rewards and give recognition

Whether it is city-scale or office-scale, recognition for great ideas is vital to ensure it continues. Innovation awards, shoutouts in articles, or even a 'good job' here and there can work wonders at fostering an environment that values innovation, and therefore encourages it. This also means rewarding and congratulating innovative behaviour even if it does not have the desired results. As long as the incentives are there, it's bound to work well at some point.

Ensuring these three factors are at play will help you maximise innovation in a space, no matter how large or small. And, when it all comes together, you will see incredible innovations being made. 

Some significant innovations of the past few years

• Sydney's Trigeneration Masterplan: 'Sustainable Sydney 2030 is the vision and strategic plan for the City of Sydney to make Sydney a green, global and connected city by 2030' - Allan Jones MBE, President of IEAC
• The Array of Things, Chicago: 'The concept of AoT is analogous to a "fitness tracker" for the city, measuring factors that impact the quality of life in the urban environment, such as climate, air quality, and noise.' - The Array of Things website
• Netflix and video streaming: 'There is a revolution happening, and within two years I think that Wi-Fi and Netflix will be built into all the televisions.' - Reed Hastings in 2009, Founder of Netflix

How to make the most of grants as a small business

If you have a small business that wants to lead innovations in your sector, you could consider a small business grant. These are offered by various organisations in the UK, with plenty of options to find one that suits you and your business.

The UK is also the home to many Research and Development loan programmes and innovation loans, such as UK Research and Innovation. With this, you can gain the funding you need to make exciting and unique innovations in your sector as an SME. 

The UK government also runs a competition each year to win up to £20 million in loans to SMEs working on 'highly innovative late-stage projects.' The competition opens in April and closes in June of each year.

If you already accept card payments with us, then Paymentsense Business Funding can give you the extra funds to expand your business. 

Whether it's to introduce a new product or expand to new locations, Business Funding is a flexible business loan tailored to growing businesses. Unlike a typical bank loan, repayments are made as a fixed percentage of your daily card takings, so you only pay when you're getting paid. 

Budding entrepreneur in the making? Ready to make your innovations pay off? Find out how to accept card payments with our range of card machines. 

 

Methodology

Global methodology

To discover which cities are the most innovative worldwide, the index calculated 8 metrics each scored out of 50, with higher scores indicating 'good' figures. The data points included the number of Google patent applications, new business registrations, universities and their rankings, relevant Google search terms trends, and the number of Kickstarter ideas and average amount pledged. These scores are then ranked and weighted to give a total 'Innovative index score' out of 100.

UK methodology

To discover which UK cities are the most innovative, Paymentsense looked at Google Search volumes for related searched terms over the past 12 months, the number of new Kickstarter ideas, the average amounts pledged, education levels of the working population, business startups per 10,000 people and the percentage of private knowledge-intensive business services jobs. These metrics were each scored, with higher scores indicating 'good' figures. The scores were then added up and weighted to give a total 'Innovative index score' out of 100. 

All figures are taken from the year 2019 to 2021.