Singapore was hailed the most future-ready city in the Asia-Pacific region based on the most recent research published by Dell.
The technology company partnered with IHS Economics, a leading macroeconomics firm, to come up with a list of the most 50 most future-ready cities in the world and found that San Jose, San Francisco and Singapore are leading the global ranks. IHS said that these top cities have already been defining the future. However, there is a need to continuously innovate and further build on their strengths as other cities are rising to the challenge and drawing in more innovators.
Completing the top ten list are Washington, DC, Boston, Austin, Raleigh, Stockholm, and Sydney respectively.
The rankings were based on the Future Ready Economies Model which looks at indicators and sub-indicators from insights and criteria developed at the Dell-sponsored Strategic Innovation Summit themed Enabling Economies for the Future held at Harvard University in 2015. IHS made two models—one that is suitable for a United States ranking and another that is for global ranking. In fact, this is the second time that the model has been applied to come up with a ranking of future-ready cities. On October 2015, Dell and IHS released the first report which ranked the 25 most future-ready cities in the United States.
James Diffley, Group Managing Director for U.S. Regional Services at IHS Economics, said that each city is assessed on how closely it is structured to optimal future readiness. “The index does not prejudice any one specific indicator but rather relies on a combination of results from many categories,” he added.
The main factors considered are the city’s human capital, infrastructure, and commerce. Assessing if a city has people who are equipped with the necessary skills needed to drive social and economic change, has infrastructure that can fully support individuals, corporate entities, and technology, and has constant opportunities that allow businesses to promote innovation, growth, and profitability.
Singapore performed well across these indicators, ranking third for human capital, third for infrastructure, and twelfth in commerce. Discussing what influenced Singapore’s ranking, Dell’s press release underscored that “Singapore is the world leader in public-private collaboration and labor force engagement, and top three in culture and lifestyle and data transparency. Singapore’s infrastructure, including its world-class airport, also helped boost its ranking.”
All in all, American cities dominated the list taking 25 spots out of the 50.
Other Asian cities that made it to the list include:
– Seoul (#12)
– Beijing (#24)
– Hong Kong (#25) which bagged the number 1 spot in infrastructure
– Taipei (#27)
– Shanghai (#28)
– Guangzhou (#31)
– Tokyo (#32)
– Suzhou (#45) which also topped the productivity and wage category
– Istanbul (#46)
– Jakarta (#47)
– Tianjin (#48)
– Shenzhen (#49)
Dell explained that “future-ready cities understand the need to create a collaborative business environment, supporting not only established firms, with their employees and growing number of independent contributors, but also growth-oriented entrepreneurs.”
Cities around the world can utilize the Dell Future Ready Economies Model as a tool for gauging their preparedness for future growth.
