Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou sci-tech cluster leads global innovation

China's Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster was ranked on top of the Global Innovation Index 2025 top 100 science and technology clusters published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on Monday.

The Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster moved to the first place from the second last year, surpassing Japan’s Tokyo-Yokohama cluster. The San Jose-San Francisco cluster in the United States took the third position of this year's index, according to the WIPO.

The index, launched in 2017, measures the amount of innovation activity in a cluster, with criteria including international patent filings, scientific publications and venture capital deals, a metric that was newly added this year.

The multilateral system is "under attack" amid global turmoil, President of the 80th UN General Assembly Annalena Baerbock warned in her remarks on Wednesday.

In her briefing on the priorities for the resumed 80th Session of the General Assembly, the UNGA president noted that the current multilateral system does not collapse all in a sudden, but "crumbles piece by piece" in divisions, compromises, and lack of political commitment.

The president called all the UN member states to defend the UN Charter and international law and promote cross-regional cooperation.

She also urged to push forward the work of the UNGA on certain critical issues with a strong majority, rather than an absolute consensus among all member states. Such act is not a failure of multilateralism, but "an affirmation of it," she said.

The foundational principles of the institution should not be eroded by appeasement, she said, calling the member states to show courage, leadership, and responsibility at the UN's "critical make-or-break moment."

"The UN needs you. Your support, your leadership, your principle, stand, your cross-regional cooperation, if we are to preserve and modernize this institution, if we are to make it, rather than break it," she said.