The United States, China, Japan, and South Korea stand out among the world's major science and technology centers In terms of investment in research and development (R&D). This is reflected in the quality and importance of science and technology projects produced in these countries.

Now, this information is compiled on a map created by the portal Visual capitalist, which used data from the 2023 Global Innovation Index to list the rankings of the largest science and technology clusters last year. Spoiler: Brazil and no South American country make the top 50 list.

In general, the ranking takes into account two main aspects: the number of international patent applications and scientific publications from each center. See the rankings below.

Leading fifty The largest science and technology centers in the world

(Image: Visual Capitalism/Reproduction)

The largest center Science and Technology In the world in Japan, the Tokyo-Yokohama group. Overall, the region represented just over 10% of all patent applications between 2018 and 2022.

Another 13 centers among the top 50 are in China. Moreover, the map shows that five Axes The world's most important science and technology sectors are located in East Asia.

The highlight of the United States is the central San Francisco Bay, which is famous for being home to major technology companies – such as Adobe, eBay, Google and PayPal.

The 100 largest science and technology centers in the world

When we expand the view to the ranking of the world's 100 largest science and technology centers, China remains the country with the most secretive clusters – with a total of 24 centers. But this is the first time this has happened.

Next comes the United States, with 21 places. Then Germany, which includes nine science and technology centers among the 100 largest.

According to Visual Capitalist, only nine positions in the ranking belong to middle-income economies outside China. Among them are Sao Paulo, along with Bengaluru, Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai in India; Tehran, in the Islamic Republic of Iran; Istanbul and Ankara in Türkiye and Moscow in Russia.