Innovation happens when a good idea meets opportunity, usually in the form of capital, facilities, talent, and institutional support. Only a select few innovation heavyweights like Silicon Valley, Boston, and London can claim to offer these in abundance, but our latest research shows there is more than one way to create a successful innovation ecosystem.
This year we developed the idea of Innovation Corridors. This builds on our Trade Corridors programme that has been connecting companies in different parts of the world for mutual benefit. For innovation, this is a case of connecting ideas, capital and resources through a programme that blends in-person contact and online connections.
In our latest research we looked at frontier technologies in the US and Europe. These are the innovations in AI, tech, defence, space, and energy that can transform an economy through high skilled jobs, R&D investment and increased economic output. However, such innovation is hard, especially when you are operating at the edge of what is possible, and innovators need as much help as they can get.
How Innovation Corridors create mutual benefits
What we found was that cities tended to have strengths in some parts of the innovation ecosystem, but they rarely possessed the full package at a scale or intensity to fully benefit. Finding partners who can fill the gaps or strengthen existing capabilities is the key to a successful innovation corridor. Some examples we suggested included:
- Gothenburg and Charlotte could benefit from complementary opportunities in future energy systems. While Gothenburg provides VC-backed innovation for small companies, Charlotte provides opportunities for real-life testing and infrastructure-scale deployment.
- For London battery startups with breakthrough technology but limited manufacturing pathways, Detroit’s facilities, OEM relationships, and network of battery-focused incubators represents a valuable partner.
- Austin and Berlin mix a strong hardware and compute foundation with software engineering and an open-source culture to create opportunities in applied AI across multiple sectors.
So where does your city fit?
The methodology behind this report is flexible, scalable, and replicable. OCO Global can apply the same analytical framework to any technology sector, and to cities, regions, or countries of any size.
Whether you are an economic development agency looking to attract investment, a city region building an international innovation strategy, or a national government seeking to position its tech clusters on the world stage, we can identify where your strongest opportunities lie and who your best partners could be.
Download the full Innovation Corridors report to see where your city ranks—and who your best partners could be.
