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CityUHK releases “Future City Index 2025”—Hong Kong ranked as top ten Leading Future Cities, strengthening role as International Talent Hub

20 May 2026 (Wed)



City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) launched the “Future City Index 2025” (CityUHK FCI), the world’s first city-level benchmarked report assessing the long-term development capabilities of 100 global cities across education, technology, talents, and finance. Based on an analysis of key indicators, the CityUHK FCI ranks Hong Kong among the world’s top ten “Leading Future Cities”, and identifies its top ten positions in “Talent Hub”, “Connection Hub”, “Resilience”, and “Future-positioning”. These results underscore Hong Kong’s competitiveness and strategic value on the global innovation stage. 

The launch of CityUHK FCI was officiated by Mr Chris Sun, Secretary for Labour and Welfare of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR); Professor the Honourable Michael Ngai, CityUHK Council Chairman; and Professor Lee Chun-sing, CityUHK Acting President. Mr Peter Yan King-shun, Director-General of Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises of the Government of the HKSAR, and the Honourable Mr Dennis Leung Tsz-wing, Member of the Legislative Council of the HKSAR, also attended.



The CityUHK FCI, compiled and published by the Global Talent Flow Data Hub at CAI, is directed by Vincent Wang Xiaohui, the Director of the Global Talent Flow Data Hub at CAI, who also served as an Assistant Professor of the Department of Media and Communication (COM). It evaluates 100 cities worldwide, across 39 indicators. The report delivers data-driven insights into six strategic dimensions, including talent hub, knowledge production, technological innovation, future-positioning, global connectivity, and urban resilience. 

This inaugural report reveals the world’s top ten “Leading Future Cities” are Beijing, Boston, Hong Kong, London, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai and Singapore¹. Notably, only five cities—Beijing, Hong Kong, London, New York and Paris¹—rank within the top ten across all four categories of “Talent Hub”, “Connection Hub”, “Resilience”, and “Future-Positioning”, underscoring their pivotal position in global talent competitiveness. 



Professor Vincent Wang noted that local universities are dedicated to nurturing tech talent. Leveraging the Chinese Mainland’s extensive high‑end talent pool together with Hong Kong’s strengths in global connectivity and adaptability, it will further advance the policy of “Bringing in and Going Global,” positioning Hong Kong as a strategic gateway for talent and enterprises to expand overseas.

¹ According to alphabetical order of the city names.