Cairo: Cairo has been ranked 83rd among the world’s top 100 innovation clusters in 2025, climbing 12 places from last year and becoming the only city in the Arab world and Africa to secure a spot on the global list.

According to State Information Service Egypt, Egypt’s Higher Education Ministry announced that the Global Innovation Index, compiled by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), credited Cairo with 1,115 scientific publications, seven international patent applications, and 21 venture capital deals per million people over the past five years.

Cairo University accounted for 24 percent of the city’s scientific output, followed by Ain Shams University with 14 percent and the National Research Centre (NRC) with 13 percent. Leading patent applicants included Si-Ware Systems (SWS), the American University (AUC) in Cairo, and petroleum company Enppi.

About 23 percent of Cairo’s patent filings were made in collaboration with inventors in London, Boston-Cambridge, and San Jose-San Francisco, while 39 percent of its scientific papers were co-authored with institutions in Riyadh, Islamabad, and Beijing, the statement added.

Higher Education Minister Ayman Ashour stated that the results reflect Egypt’s strategy to make universities and research institutes hubs of innovation and entrepreneurship. In February, the ministry launched its National Policy for Sustainable Innovation 2030 to strengthen collaboration between academia and industry.

Egypt’s higher education sector has also stepped up international publishing in recent years through government-backed training and incentives for researchers, the statement said. The Global Innovation Index ranks countries and cities on innovation ecosystems and outcomes, measuring stages such as investment in science, technological progress, adoption, and socio-economic impact.