The city ranked first in the Schroders Index for innovation, reflecting its position as the home of choice for more unicorns – a startup worth more than $1 billion – than most other European countries. London beat Boston, San Francisco, New York and Melbourne overall. The British capital’s dense public transport network also helped it to win first place.
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The Elizabeth Line’s long-delayed arrival is believed to have helped give London’s competitive advantage over rivals such as Paris and Stockholm, as passengers can now take advantage of some of Europe’s best travel connections.
London’s world-class universities have also helped the capital achieve high results, beating top players like Singapore and Amsterdam to the top spot.
“London continues to perform well on all four measures of the Global Cities Index and the importance of transport and universities cannot be overstated,” said Hugo Machin, portfolio manager at Schroders Global Cities.
He added: “London, with the opening of the new Elizabeth Line and its longstanding tube, bus and rail network, has a high level of mass transit compared to other world cities.
“The city also has universities that continue to be at the forefront of academic research, with the London School of Economics (LSE) and Imperial College leading the way in a number of areas.”
The news comes as city businesses reaffirmed their commitment to London six years after the Brexit vote, defying expectations of a mass exodus from the financial sector.
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London topped the global city rankings, with transport and education helping it reach number one (Image: Getty)
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Paris was the second highest European city and ranked seventh. (Image: Getty)
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There were warnings from the lobby that remained that tens of thousands of city jobs in other European capitals such as Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels would be lost after the vote, leading to a brain drain from London as workers look elsewhere.
PwC predicted in April 2016, just months before the referendum, that as many as 100,000 finance jobs could be lost if London shuts itself out of European business. That would be every fifth job in the city.
However, financial firm EY’s latest Brexit tracker showed fewer people leaving the UK in search of work for Europe than last year, with the number of airlines down to 7,000, compared with 7,600 in 2021 and 10,500 in March 2017.
The number of new jobs publicly linked to Brexit has also risen to 54,000 from 5,000 last year as companies look to expand their offerings in London, showing how the number of companies leaving London is increasing want, has stabilized due to Brexit.
London beats all other European cities and takes the top spot in the Schroders ranking, with Paris being the second highest in Europe at seventh. Stockholm was the second highest European city, ranking 16th, while Amsterdam was 21st.
Supporters of Britain’s exit from the European Union welcomed the news.
Read more: Brexit: London retains crown as Europe’s leading financial centre
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Concerns that COVID-19 could drive people out of cities seem overdone. (Image: Getty)
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One Twitter user, Robert Kimball, tweeted: “For the two returning members, this news is…
“London holds the crown as the best global city according to the Schroders Index. Boston, San Francisco and New York followed behind London in the rankings, with Melbourne occupying the top five. Paris is the largest city in the European Union and ranks seventh. “
Schroders noted that fears that an increase in working from home due to the coronavirus pandemic could prompt more people to leave cities and move to the countryside are overdone.
Mr Machin added that centers like London continue to attract workers from around the world even as the trend of part-time working from home continues beyond the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.
The latest data suggests a move away from city centers rather than cities at large – people are spending less time in the centers, but cities remain an important backbone for business.
Boston also rose in the rankings that year, taking first place, while Hong Kong saw a drop in its rankings.
Mr Machin suggested that tighter coronavirus restrictions in some cities may have hurt their rankings as centers are still feeling the effects of prolonged closures.
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London has overtaken New York as a business center. (Image: Getty)
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Mr Machin: “The full physical impact of the COVID-19 lockdowns on cities around the world has not yet been fully reflected in the data.
However, some of the notable cities that have faced tighter lockdowns and COVID-19 restrictions will always face difficulties in attracting foreign investment and corporate desire to establish a foothold there or retain offices in these cities.
“Cities in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Hong Kong and America’s West Coast, for example, have endured severe and long-term restrictions, which can negatively impact their long-term attractiveness.
“This is the case in the United States, where immigration patterns to the sunbelt states of Texas and Florida are becoming more apparent. Schroders is starting to track this through job vacancies and mail forwarding data. It can be said that this trend started before the COVID -19 pandemic.
“The rising cost of living and societal issues in West Coast cities have reduced the quality of life in those areas, and more restrictive measures imposed by the pandemic have exacerbated this. On the other hand, the demand for real assets in the cities of the southern states continues to accelerate.” .
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