World Intellectual Property Report 2019The Geography of Innovation: Local Hotspots, Global NetworksWorld Intellectual Property Report 2019The Geography of Innovation: Local Hotspots, Global NetworksExcept where otherwise indicated, this work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO License.The user is allowed to reproduce, distribute, adapt, translate and publicly perform this publication, including for commercial purposes, without explicit permission, provided that the con-tent is accompanied by an acknowledgement that WIPO is the source and that it is clearly indicated if changes were made to the original content.Suggested citation: WIPO (2019). World Intellectual Property Report 2019: The geography of innovation: Local hotspots, glob-al networks. Geneva: World Intellectual Property Organization.Adaptation/translation/derivatives should not carry any official emblem or logo, unless they have been approved and validat-ed by WIPO. Please contact us via the WIPO website to obtain permission.For any derivative work, please include the following disclaimer: “The Secretariat of WIPO assumes no liability or responsibil-ity with regard to the transformation or translation of the origi-nal content.”When content published by WIPO, such as images, graphics, trademarks or logos, is attributed to a third party, the user of such content is solely responsible for clearing the rights with the right holder(s).To view a copy of this license, please visit:creativecommons/licenses/by/3.0/igo/The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of WIPO concerning the legal status of any country, territory or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.This publication is not intended to reflect the views of the Member States or the WIPO Secretariat.The mention of specific companies or products of manufac-turers does not imply that they are endorsed or recommend-ed by WIPO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned.© WIPO, 2019World Intellectual Property Organization 34, chemin des Colombettes, P.O. Box 18 CH-1211 Geneva 20, SwitzerlandISBN: 978-92-805-3095-7Attribution 3.0 IGO (CC BY 3.0 IGO)Printed in SwitzerlandTable of contentsForeword 4Executive summary 8Technical notes 123Acronyms 128Chapter 1The changing global geography of innovation 151.1 Concentration of innovation in urban hotspots 161.2 Networks and the global spread of innovation 211.3 Conclusions 25Chapter 2Global networks of innovation hotspots 312.1 The two sides of global knowledge production 332.2 Global networks of collaboration and sourcing 412.3 Local innovation and global networks of innovative hubs 51Chapter 3Auto and tech companies the drive for autonomous vehicles 613.1 Definitions 623.2 Technological evolution of the automotive industry 623.3 Technological shift 663.4 Competition and cooperation in AV 663.5 Role of geography in AV technology 693.6 AV innovation, countries and cities 693.7 Is AV technology changing the geography of innovation in automotive industry? 763.8 Potential positive and negative impacts of AVs 76Chapter 4Plant biotechnology connecting urban innovation and rural application 874.1 The rising importance of plant biotechnology 884.2 The innovation landscape of plant biotechnology 964.3 The innovation network of plant biotechnology 1034.4 Future of plant biotechnology 105Chapter 5Policy perspectives: the case for openness 1135.1 The economics of openness 1135.2 Openness in the age of falling R and specialized niche clusters, where the density of inventors and scientific authors is high in a given field but not high enough generally to be a global hotspot.Innovation is geographically concentrated in a limited number of areasThe emerging landscape of global hotspots and niche clusters shows that inventive and scientific activity within each country is persistently concentrated in a few large, cosmopolitan and prosperous urban areas. In the U.S., hotspots around New York, San Francisco and Boston accumulated roughly a quarter of all U.S. patents filed from 2011 to 2015. In China, those around Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen increased their share from 36 percent to 52 percent of all Chinese patents during the same period. Less than 19 percent of all inventive and scientific output worldwide is generated by inventors or researchers located outside hotspots and niche clusters. Despite the big change in the global innovation picture, more than 160 countries the vast majority still generate little innovation activity and do not host any hotspot or niche cluster.