Because technology centres are often - but not always - the most prominent wealth management jurisdictions, this report shows that Asia is in the fast lane, but perhaps surprisingly Switzerland does not make the top 20.

Singapore, London and Tel Aviv are the three largest technology innovation hubs outside California’s Silicon Valley and San Francisco, suggesting that wealth management centres often overlap with such places.

The 2020 KPMG Technology Industry Innovation Survey, an annual study, puts Singapore as top in the list of “leading” technology hub outside Silicon Valley/San Francisco. London is second, Israel is third, followed by Tokyo, New York, Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, Bengaluru (India), Hong Kong, Austin, Texas, Boston, US, Berlin, Chicago, and Frankfurt. 

The KPMG report includes responses from more than 800 global leaders in the technology industry from 12 countries.

Many of the top wealth management centres are also prominent for technology, so much so that they can blur into each other. California-based wealth management advisors often have close relationships with the venture capital and other investment groups funding tech firms in that part of the US. 

Interestingly, no Swiss city is in the top 20 centres as listed by KPMG, a fact that may give the Alpine state some cause for concern. (Switzerland is, however, home to a number of significant bank-related technology businesses, such as Avaloq, ERI Bancaire, EPAM and Appway, among others.)

Singapore’s position at the top of the non-California list is significant for the jurisdiction’s wealth management sector, explaining perhaps why banks there, such as DBS, have made a big deal of digital services as a core strategic priority.

Data from the KPMG report shows that Asian centres fare well, but findings from respondents also show that only 37 per cent of global tech executives now think it is likely that the technology innovation centre of the world will move away from Silicon Valley in the next four years. Last year, some 58 per cent thought so.

KPMG asked why industry figures have sharply changed their minds about Silicon Valley’s global dominance. It had this answer: “One explanation is that survey respondents are projecting the result of continued US efforts to protect and bolster critical emerging technologies. As tariffs are levied, trade deals negotiated, foreign acquisitions blocked and sanctions implemented in the name of national security, technology and intellectual property are not flowing across borders as easily as in the past.”

Survey respondents noted a modern infrastructure as the most important factor for enabling a city to become a technology innovation centre, followed by an urban locale which attracts young professionals, the presence of at least one research university, and available investment funding. See here for a full list of qualities favoured: