Beijing rises to world’s most competitive city as Covid-19 saps economies, curtails travel and upends connectivity, study finds

HONG KONG, Dec 12 (SCMP): Beijing is the world’s most competitive city in the era of Covid-19, as the Chinese capital’s successful containment of the infectious disease amid a worldwide pandemic elevated it to the top of an annual ranking amid curtailed travelling and upended economic activities, according to the study’s author.

Beijing was ranked highest because of the number of co-authored scientific research papers published, according to the 2020-2021 Global Urban Competitiveness Report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme. Paris was in second place, followed by London, Shanghai, New York, Boston, Sao Paulo, Madrid, Milan and Toronto to round out the top 10.