HK, Shanghai among top 10 in knowledge competitiveness

Chinese provincial administrative regions including Hong Kong and Shanghai have accounted for half of the top 10 slots in terms of knowledge competiveness in the AsiaPacific region, a phenomenon which industry insiders said showcased China’s huge investment in research and development as well as its economic potential to be driven by innovation.

Hong Kong led Chinese provincial administrative regions with a ranking of No. 4 in the Asia-Pacific knowledge competition index, followed by Shanghai, ranking No. 5. Others in the list include Beijing, South China’s Guangdong Province, and Taiwan, ranking No.7, No.8 and No.9, respectively.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Singapore topped the regional list.

The index, which measures advanced regions and cities’ ability to translate knowledge into economic value and residents’ wealth, was released by the Knowledge Competition and Regional Development Research Center under Shanghai Jiaotong University on Sunday.

East China’s Zhejiang Province, North China’s Tianjin Municipality and East China’s Jiangsu Province were among the top 20 in the list.

The list shows that China’s devotion to technology and education is “translating from a quantitative to a qualitative change,” which is key in improving industrial production and creating new economic drivers, thepaper.cn reported on Monday.