Ten out of the top 20 science cities, as determined by Nature, are now located in China, and so are numbers 21, 22, 23 and 64 on the 200-strong list – which is determined by share of output in the scientific journal over the year prior.
Beijing retained its long-standing position as the top contributor, and was followed by Shanghai. According to the 2024 Nature Index Science Cities supplement, Shanghai pushed New York City into third place through strengthening its research and development in biopharmaceuticals, advanced materials and artificial intelligence.
The supplement’s editor, Simon Baker, described the emergence of the country’s provincial capitals as one of the index’s most interesting trends. “From Chengdu in the west, to Hefei in the east, these cities — lesser known in the West — are now rubbing shoulders in the top 30 with long-established scientific centres in Europe and North America,” he wrote.
[See more: China aims to overtake the US in space science by 2050]
Baker said that these locations’ rise in competitiveness was “very much aligned to national strategies to bolster the country’s economic self-sufficiency.” Many of them play key roles in technology sectors that include electric vehicles and solar energy, for instance.
The Chinese cities in the top 20 are: Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing (no. 5), Guangzhou (no. 8), Wuhan (no. 9), Hangzhou (no. 13), Hefei (no. 15), Tianjin (no. 18), Hong Kong (no. 19) and Xi’an (no. 20).
The only other two Asian cities that made the top 20 were Tokyo in 10th place, and Seoul in 12th place.
