Fall of the favorite: Singapore trails behind global cities in intellectual innovation

A real shocker for third-ranked state.

Singapore trailed behind its global counterparts when it comes to intellectual capital and innovation, PwC’s Cities of Opportunity survey revealed.

The country ranks an impressive third when all indicators are taken into account, closely behind second-ranked New York and top seed London.

However, it spiraled to 14th place when it came to intellectual capital and innovation.

Singapore received 148 points for this indicator, well behind over-all eighth placer Hong Kong, which received 158 points. Other Asian cities received even higher scores for this indicator, such as Seoul with 161 points and Tokyo with 172 points.

The country received a measly six out of thirty points when it comes to the libraries with public access variable. It also received a poor score for the literacy and enrollment variable, for which it received eight out of thirty points.

A bright spot is that Singapore got full marks when it comes to intellectual property protection, receiving a remarkable 30 points.

According to the report, “What distinguishes intellectual capital and innovation is that it is not merely a gauge of technical or (technological) progress, or social development, or economic growth, or cultural advance, or major improvement in quality of life. It is all of these things, together and simultaneously.”