People attend the Inaugural Award Ceremony for the first WIPO City of Innovation award at the headquarters of the WIPO in Geneva, Switzerland, on October 12, 2026. Chinese city Shanghai, Britain's Liverpool and Belgium's Charleroi were announced Monday by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as winners of the first WIPO City of Innovation award. Photo: the Xinhua News Agency

Shanghai has been named one of the first winners of the World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) "City of Innovation" award, alongside Charleroi in Belgium and Liverpool in the UK, according to WIPO's official website. WIPO highlighted Shanghai's pledges to expand education and support on intellectual property, widen access to facilities and data that support innovation, and strengthen links among researchers, entrepreneurs, businesses and investors. 

WIPO said Shanghai aims to strengthen its position as an international hub for science, technology and intellectual property while fostering a broader culture of innovation and creativity. Its pledges cover four main areas: expanding intellectual property (IP) education and services, opening up innovation infrastructure and data, supporting cultural and creative industries, and strengthening connections among research institutions, industry, entrepreneurs and investors.

Andrea Dempster Chung, member of the International Jury Panel and Co-Founder & Executive Director for Kingston Creative, said Shanghai's application was extremely impressive, not just because of its strong research and development base that the city already had, but for the sheer scale of its ambitions and the strength of pledges, the Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday. 

"This would be pivotal in shifting the city's future and this is one of the reasons why Shanghai was selected," she said, according to Xinhua.

The award, launched by WIPO for the first time in 2026, differs from conventional city rankings, which are based mainly on past innovation performance and accomplishments. Instead, it recognizes cities that pledge to create ecosystems that unlock the innovative and creative potential of their residents and inspire other municipalities to match their commitments. 

The 2026 winners' pledges include plans to attract technology start-ups, develop digital and creative skills, expand IP support and further involve communities in innovative activities.

A nine-member independent international jury selected the three winners from 15 finalists, assessing the ambition and credibility of their pledges and how closely their visions were grounded in local circumstances.

The award comes shortly after the Shanghai-Suzhou innovation cluster ranked sixth globally in WIPO's 2026 ranking of the World's Top 100 Innovation Clusters, which was released by WIPO on September 8.  

WIPO's data showed that the cluster recorded 9,451 venture capital deals over the most recent five-year period, ranking fourth worldwide by that measure. 

The ranking of the World's Top 100 Innovation Clusters is based on three indicators: patenting activity under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), scientific publications and venture capital activity. These are mapped using inventors' locations, scientific authors' affiliations and the locations of companies receiving venture capital funding, according to WIPO. 

Zhou Yaming, Deputy Secretary-General of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government, said the award represents WIPO's strong recognition of Shanghai's innovative developments and its efforts in building a thriving IP ecosystem. "It also reflects the international community's endorsement of China's commitment to open innovation, mutual benefits and shared success," he added.  

Shanghai's recognition reflects years of sustained efforts to improve its innovation ecosystem and strengthen its infrastructure and institutional support, Shan Xiaoguang, dean of Shanghai International College of IP at Tongji University in Shanghai, told the Global Times.

 "The award can be seen as a natural result of long-term accumulation and continuous efforts," Shan said, adding that Shanghai's drive to become an international science and technology innovation hub and strengthen its intellectual property system has laid an important foundation for the recognition.

Shanghai has also continued to expand its intellectual property base. According to the Shanghai Intellectual Property Administration, applicants in the city were granted 52,800 invention patents in 2025, up 4.29 percent year on year, while the number of PCT international patent applications rose 9.15 percent year on year to 7,446. By the end of 2025, Shanghai had 65 high-value invention patents per 10,000 people, ranking second nationwide.

WIPO's focus on IP services, innovation infrastructure, and stronger links among researchers, entrepreneurs, companies and investors shows that a city's innovation capacity should not be measured simply by the number of patents or research results it produces, Shan said. 

"The ultimate purpose of protecting intellectual property is to ensure that it can be put to better use," the expert said. A mature innovation ecosystem, Shan noted, should enable research outcomes, IP protection, business applications and commercialization to work together more effectively.