A cluster comprising Hong Kong and two mainland Chinese cities has been ranked the world’s top innovation hub for the second consecutive year by a United Nations body.The Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster retained its crown in the 2026 Global Innovation Index released by the World Intellectual Property Organization on Tuesday.Tokyo-Yokohama, San Jose-San Francisco, Seoul and Beijing followed in the rankings.A government spokesman welcomed the ranking, saying it reaffirmed the Greater Bay Area’s “outstanding innovative capacity” and its strong financing ecosystem for innovation and technology (I&T).He said the city would “proactively align with the national 15th five-year plan to strengthen its strategic positioning” as an international I&T centre.The government would also deepen collaboration across the bay area – which refers to Beijing’s initiative to turn Hong Kong, Macau and nine mainland cities into an integrated hi-tech economic powerhouse – to help build a modern industrial system and support national technological self-reliance, he said.