San Francisco 1, Bangalore 0

The Financial Times reports on a survey of global regions and their competitiveness in the knowledge economy. The results are interesting: San Francisco has the most competitive knowledge economy in the world, as investment in both technology and people continues to boost the city’s productivity, according to a report published today. The world knowledge competitive ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

The Financial Times reports on a survey of global regions and their competitiveness in the knowledge economy. The results are interesting:

The Financial Times reports on a survey of global regions and their competitiveness in the knowledge economy. The results are interesting:

San Francisco has the most competitive knowledge economy in the world, as investment in both technology and people continues to boost the city’s productivity, according to a report published today. The world knowledge competitive index, collated by Robert Huggins Associates, a British-based economics consultancy, found that the world’s top 14 knowledge economies were all in the US…. Only 10 regions outside the US made it into the top 50, with Stockholm taking 15th place and Uusimaa in Finland 19th, rising by three and 18 places respectively from the previous year . “Europe continues to struggle to bridge the knowledge gap that would enable it to compete with the US regions,” said Robert Huggins, the report’s author. “The location of high- technology clusters in Europe continues to be concentrated in a few regions.”… [F]or now, regions of China, India and eastern Europe dominate the bottom rankings of the index. Bangalore fared the worst, although its index score has increased by almost 300 per cent since last year, while Mumbai and Hyderabad were also at the bottom. (emphasis added)

Click here for Huggins Associates’ press release on the survey, and here for the list of all 125 regions included in the survey. UPDATE: The ever-alert Robert Tagorda finds Reuters making explicit the point I was being implicit about:

Chinese, Indian and Eastern European regions were at the bottom of the competitiveness league table, with Bangalore the lowest at 125th despite improving its index score by almost 300 percent since 2003. Such results should allay concern in developed countries that high-skilled jobs would move to cheaper locations, the study suggested. “Off-shoring is, and will continue to be, mainly restricted to a very particular type of employment requiring only a set of basic, generic, and transferable skills, rather than those high-level skills that create added value.”

Check out Robert’s post for more.

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

More from Foreign Policy

Newspapers in Tehran feature on their front page news about the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, signed in Beijing the previous day, on March, 11 2023.
Newspapers in Tehran feature on their front page news about the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, signed in Beijing the previous day, on March, 11 2023.

Saudi-Iranian Détente Is a Wake-Up Call for America

The peace plan is a big deal—and it’s no accident that China brokered it.

Austin and Gallant stand at podiums side by side next to each others' national flags.
Austin and Gallant stand at podiums side by side next to each others' national flags.

The U.S.-Israel Relationship No Longer Makes Sense

If Israel and its supporters want the country to continue receiving U.S. largesse, they will need to come up with a new narrative.

Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the Moscow Kremlin Wall in the Alexander Garden during an event marking Defender of the Fatherland Day in Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the Moscow Kremlin Wall in the Alexander Garden during an event marking Defender of the Fatherland Day in Moscow.

Putin Is Trapped in the Sunk-Cost Fallacy of War

Moscow is grasping for meaning in a meaningless invasion.

An Iranian man holds a newspaper reporting the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, in Tehran on March 11.
An Iranian man holds a newspaper reporting the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, in Tehran on March 11.

How China’s Saudi-Iran Deal Can Serve U.S. Interests

And why there’s less to Beijing’s diplomatic breakthrough than meets the eye.