Silicon Valley is a global technology hub and home to many world’s largest corporate groups, approx 39 fortune-1000 companies headquarter and more than 1000 startup companies operating from Silicon Valley. But According to KPMG’s annual global technology industry innovation survey report shows more than half of the technology industry leaders said that the innovation center of world is likely to move from Silicon Valley in the next four years.
58 percent believe that it is likely or very likely that the technology innovation center of the world will move from Silicon Valley by 2023. While not specifically addressing which city would replace Silicon Valley, in a separate question, tech industry leaders tabbed New York to become the top tech hub in addition to Silicon Valley. High profile announcements by tech giants helped push New York, Boston and Austin up in the rankings this year. Other notable risers included Taipei and Paris. Here are the top 15 cities outside Silicon Valley.
Silicon Valley’s world renowned ecosystem is being weighed against dynamics such as an overburdened infrastructure, high cost of living and questions about tech industry culture in Silicon Valley. It’s why in the U.S. we see tech companies making high-profile investments in cities such as New York, Washington D.C. and Austin – all of which rose in the eyes of tech leaders globally as they ranked the cities that will emerge as a top tech innovation hub outside of Silicon Valley over the next four years.
Additionally, the responses from the leaders align with the continuing decentralization of technology innovation as companies and cities globally continue to increase investments in tech. Other notable risers included Taipei and Paris.
Here’s the list of the top 15 cities; a global cross-section dominated by the U.S. and Asia Pacific. I thought it was noteworthy that New York jumped to number one after ranking third last year.
1. New York
2. Beijing
3. Tokyo and London (tied)
5. Shanghai and Taipei (tied)
7. Singapore
8. Seoul
9. Boston and Austin (tied)
11. Berlin
12. Hong Kong SAR
13. Washington, D.C.
14. Paris, France
15. Tel Aviv, Israel
These rankings are the perception of the 740 technology industry leaders surveyed globally, which provide for an interesting comparison alongside four publicly available data-driven indices. Together, they offer additional insight into the prospects for these technology innovation hubs. For example, New York placed in the Top 2 in three of the five indices, reinforcing the city’s position in KPMG’s survey. Berlin was ranked between 11th and 18th in the five rankings, showing the most consistency and strong potential as a tech innovation hub.
As these cities seek to continue their climb to become a top tech hub on the same level as Silicon Valley, they will aim to replicate the strengths and benefit from the lessons of Silicon Valley. Whether one or some of them indeed surpass Silicon Valley remains to be seen.
City Index Ranking
Today, Silicon Valley maintains its position as the tech innovation leader. Consider, for example, the number of automobile companies that have set up shop in Silicon Valley to drive their autonomous vehicle technology development. The Valley-based tech giants also are expanding in their home region, as well as in other areas as I stated earlier
Still, the fact that more than half of the technology industry leaders surveyed believe the tech innovation center of the world will move adds to the sense of urgency among all stakeholders in Silicon Valley to continue to build on key strengths and pursue solutions to the factors that contribute to talent, knowledge and startups going elsewhere.
