Global Creativity Index from “Flight of the Creative Class”

Global Creativity Index: Ranking The Worlds Most Creative Cities and Countries

I’ve been diving into the business innovation, entrepreneurship, and creativity literature with an astute passion. The book is fundamentally about openness, innovation, and creativity. Technology and Society points out that “Creative Class” is essentially about one key focus:

America’s growth miracle turns on one key factor: its openness to new ideas, which has allowed it to dominate the global competition for talent, and in doing so harness the creative energies of its own people–and, indeed, the world. (p.4)

Here is part of the Global Creativity Index in Richard Florida’s book “Flight of the Creative Class” [p. 275] which ranks the World’s most creative and innovative countries:

1) Sweden .808
2) Japan .766
3) Finland .684
4) United States .666
5) Switzerland .637
6) Denmark .613
7) Iceland .612
8} Netherlands .611
9) Germany .577
10) Germany .577
11) Canada .548
12) Australia .528
13) Belgium .526
14) Israel .525
15) United Kingdom .517
16) South Korea .465
17) France .462
18) New Zealand .459
19) Austria .438
20) Ireland .414
21) Czech Republic .382
22) Greece .371
23) Spain .365

Here are some of the most creative and innovative American cities ranked:

1. San Francisco 1057
2. Austin 1028
3. Boston 1015
4. San Diego 1015
5. Seattle 1008
6. Raleigh–Durham 996
7. Houston 980
8. Washington–Baltimore 964
9. New York 962
10. Minneapolis–St. Paul 960
10. Dallas 960

“Talent Will America Lose Out” the Business Week review of “Flight of the Creative Class”

What do you think about the the “Flight of the Creative Class” by Richard Florida or the Global Creative Index? How did Russia and Estonia beat out Italy? Do you disagree with any rankings on the global creative cities list?

(note this is not the complete list as it looks at 10 other metrics to create the Creativity Index scores, which of course are important for making assessments of the rankings)