< Previous68 JULY 2021 S I T E S EL E C T I O N EAST NORTH CENTRAL 1 Toledo, OH 2 Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI 3 Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN 4 Lansing-East Lansing, MI 5 Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN 6 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI 7 Ann Arbor, MI 8 Cleveland-Elyria, OH 9 Kalamazoo-Portage, MI 10 Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI MOUNTAIN 1 Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO 2 Salt Lake City, UT 3 Boise City, ID 4 Boulder, CO 5 Reno, NV 6 Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV 7 Albuquerque, NM 8 Carson City, NV 9 Ogden-Clearfield, UT 10 Provo-Orem, UT NORTHEAST 1 Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH 2 Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT 3 Pittsburgh, PA 4 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD 5 Providence-Warwick, RI-MA 6 Trenton, NJ 7 Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ 8 Worcester, MA-CT 9 Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT 10 Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY PACIFIC 1 San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA 2 Sacramento--Roseville--Arden-Arcade, CA 3 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA 4 San Diego-Carlsbad, CA 5 Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA 6 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA 7 Truckee-Grass Valley, CA 8 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA 9 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA 10 Bellingham, WA SOUTH ATLANTIC 1 Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin, SC 2 Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC 3 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD 4 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL 5 Durham-Chapel Hill, NC 6 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA 7 Fayetteville, NC 8 Columbia, SC 9 Charleston-North Charleston, SC 10 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL SOUTH CENTRAL 1 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX 2 New Orleans-Metairie, LA 3 Austin-Round Rock, TX 4 Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX 5 Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN 6 Oklahoma City, OK 7 Lexington-Fayette, KY 8 Lake Charles, LA 9 Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR 10 San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX WEST NORTH CENTRAL 1 Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA 2 Kansas City, MO-KS 3 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI 4 Sioux City, IA-NE-SD 5 Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA 6 Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL 7 Springfield, MO 8 St. Louis, MO-IL 9 Dubuque, IA 10 Cedar Rapids, IA TOP 10 METROS Rank Metropolitan Area 1 Toledo, OH 2 Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI 3 Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN 4 Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA 5 Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH 6 Lansing-East Lansing, MI 7 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX 8 Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN 9 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI 10 Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin, SC REGIONAL CRITERIA: • LEED-certified buildings (number & per capita, USGBC, Registration date - 05/08/2021) • Green industry projects 2018-2020, Conway Projects Database (investments in “green industry” NAICS codes as defined by US BLS; tally & per capita) • Energy Star buildings (number & per capita) • Brownfield grants (tally & per capita) • Brownfield cleanups (tally & per capita) In September 2020, the SEIA set a target of 100 GW of annual renewable energy manufacturing production capacity by the end of the decade, with solar accounting for half. That would only add to the country’s green industry credentials, one of the criteria by which we rank countries, states and metros. Solar energy accounted for about 11% of US renewable energy consumption in 2020, up 22% from 2019 as U.S. consumption of renewable energy grew for the fifth year in a row. Circular Thinking In addition to First Solar, Toledo is also famously home to Owens Corning, known for its fiberglass products and a whole range of roofing and other materials that have become synonymous with sustainability. The company just earned its spot on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for the 11th straight year. “At Owens Corning, we are driven to make the world a better place — and our sustainability aspirations reflect that drive,” said Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer Frank O’Brien-Bernini. Jim Eckert is director of corporate real estate for the Global Real Estate Solutions team at Owens Corning. In a recent panel discussion I hosted with him and several other members of the Industrial Asset Management Council (see p. 12), he said, “Sustainability has been a big part of what our company’s all about,” from internal practices to doubling the positive impact of the company’s products, whether it’s contributing to zero-energy buildings or making wind turbines more efficient. The company also aims to halve the negative impact of its operations, and advance workforce inclusion. “Our aspirations also include keeping people safe, improving quality of life of employees and improving communities,” he says. A new report from The Conference Board, “Holistic Well-Being@Work,” S I T E S E L E C T I O N JULY 2021 69 finds that two-thirds of 200 corporate wellness program practitioners believe that executive leaders understand the importance of holistic well-being, even as employee uptake lags. “Heavy workloads and time constraints pose major barriers to using well-being programs — more so than other factors,” said Laura Sabattini, PhD, principal researcher, Human Capital at The Conference Board. “Implementing a successful wellness strategy starts with looking at your work culture.” Asked about the relationship between human well-being and the planet’s, Sabattini tells me, “A truly holistic approach supports multiple dimensions of wellness, including environmental well-being — i.e., where workers live and work. Beyond ensuring occupational health and safety, organizations have the opportunity to build healthier workplaces and communities that create value for employees, shareholders and society at large.” Land of Lincoln Looks to LEED and Beyond That sort of thinking undergirds Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s eight principles for a clean and renewable economy that he announced in August 2020, not long after joining stakeholders on Chicago’s south side to launch a $32 million brownfield redevelopment project known as the Green Era Urban Farming Campus. Noting that the project incorporates renewable energy, food production, availability of healthy foods and climate-smart job training, Pritzker said it is “exactly the kind of 21st century vision that deserves our investment.” Green Era has partnered with bp to sell renewable energy produced at its facility through its anaerobic digester. “When bp was approached by Green Era to collaborate on this project, we knew it would be a great opportunity to support sustainable neighborhoods and demonstrate there is a market for low- carbon fuels like renewable natural gas,” said Janet Kong, bp regional business leader, Global Oil Americas. The project supports a several of Pritzker’s eight principles, including the advancement of equity in the clean energy economy and supporting communities in the clean energy transition. Others focus on phasing out carbon-based power generation to be 100% clean by 2050; and establishing tax credits and incentives to not only attract EV companies downstate but motivate EV adoption. Most of the principles were included in a bill before the legislature this year, the Clean Energy and Jobs Act (CEJA), which was first introduced in 2018. It did not pass even after a special session called to pass it, due to concerns about how communities and workers affected by shut-down fossil fuel power plants will be supported. But green momentum continues. “One area where Illinois stands out among our national peers is on electric vehicle expansion — thanks in part to the Governor’s plans to put 1 million electric vehicles on our roads by 2030,” Sylvia Garcia, acting director of the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity, tells me. “Just like we’ve seen with other industries, EV companies continue to choose Illinois thanks to our skilled talent, strong supply chain, and investments to modernize infrastructure — which includes tens of millions of capital dollars dedicated to expanding charging stations and helping schools and communities across our state convert to clean energy sources. These investments will be important as jobs in the EV space are expected to double in the years ahead.” The state looks to double EV jobs by 2024, including 1,900 jobs coming to electric truck company Rivian in Normal; and hundreds more to come to a new project from Canada’s Lion Electric, which pledged $70 million to build its first U.S. production center set to roll out 20,000 EVs next year from Joliet. In February, nearly two dozen companies and higher education institutions in the state urged lawmakers to accelerate the state’s clean energy transition. “We need bold action now if we are to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change and build a better future for generations to come,” said Patrick Flynn, vice president of sustainability at Salesforce. “Illinois has a unique opportunity to make a bold climate commitment and ensure a just and equitable transition to a low-carbon economy.” TOP 10 COUNTRIES 1 Germany 2 Canada 3 United States 4 Spain 5 United Kingdom 6 Sweden 7 Italy 8 Netherlands 9 Finland 10 Australia CRITERIA: • LEED-certified buildings (number & per capita, USGBC, May 2021) • Renewable energy capacity (IRENA, in megawatts & MW per capita, 2021) • Renewable energy deployment (RECAI index, updated November 2020 by EY) • Green industry projects from Conway Projects Database (investments in “green industry” NAICS codes as defined by US BLS; tally & per capita) see previous methodology re: use of BLS NAICS codes • CSR rankings: Ranking areas by degree of facility investment tracked in 2018-2020 by Conway Projects Database made by companies with high corporate social responsibility ratings as measured by CSRHub (https://www.csrhub.com/) • Renewable energy deployment (score and per-capita score), U.S. Energy Information Administration • Green laws/incentives (DSIRE database, tally & per capita, May 2021) • CSR rankings: Ranking areas by degree of facility investment tracked in 2018-2020 by Conway Projects Database made by companies with high corporate social responsibility ratings as measured by CSRHub • Ocean Health Index (2019) • World Happiness Index (2018 – 2020) 70 JULY 2021 S I T E S EL E C T I O N How can smart urban solutions help cities achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? To answer this question, ESI oughtLab developed the notion of “Cities ..” Cities . continue the evolution of smart cities by showing how cities can eff ectively use technology, data and citizen engagement to drive the SDGs. Meeting the Challenges of a Post-Pandemic World During the COVID- pandemic, ensuring a healthy, safe, and prosperous future for citizens has been a burning imperative for city leaders around the world. At the same time, the health crisis has raised the importance of the SDGs, which many cities have adopted as a framework for achieving their social, environmental, and economic objectives. In a new survey of cities conducted by ESI oughtLab for its study “Smart City Solutions for a Riskier World,” over one-quarter of city leaders said that the pandemic had made the SDGs a higher priority. One-third said the crisis had stimulated new thinking about their social priorities overall. e pandemic also is accelerating the need for cities to adopt smart innovation and digital solutions, as it transforms citizen behaviors and expectations and redefi nes how people work and live: For % of cities, the biggest lesson learned during the pandemic was just how by LAURA GARCELL and ANNA SZTERENFELD, ESI THOUGHTLAB editor@siteselection.com SMAR T CITIES CITIES 4.0: WHERE SMART SOLUTIONS MEET SUSTAINABILITY Forward-looking transportation infrastructure and connectivity are hallmarks of Cities 4.0. Photo courtesy of ESI ThoughtLab S I T E S E L E C T I O N JULY 2021 71 crucial smart city programs were for their future. And it is underscoring the role of collaboration among business, government and academia to address long-term urban challenges and to build resilience. Those cities that make the most progress on the SDGs while also leading in smart city innovation will be the most successful as we enter the post- pandemic world. How innovation Can Drive the SDGs A prime objective of this research was to assess how smart urban solutions can help cities achieve the SDGs. To measure the progress that cities have made in driving the SDGs, ESI ThoughtLab developed an SDG progress framework that categorizes cities into three groups: implementers, which are in an early stage of SDG adoption; advancers, which are making progress on a range of SDGs; and sprinters, which are making fast progress on most areas of sustainable development. Twenty-two percent are classified as implementers, 57% as advancers, and 21% as sprinters. According to the research, nearly eight in 10 cities have adopted the SDGs as part of their plans and around 60% have made considerable progress across all 17 goals. Small cities with fewer than 1 million people are much farther along than larger cities in embracing the SDG framework. By region, North American and European cities are ahead, while those in Africa and Asia trail behind. Our economists also created a smart city maturity framework to assess which cities are ahead in using smart city solutions and technologies to achieve their social, environmental and economic goals. A smart city leader was defined based on its maturity in the use of technology across the urban domains, its use of data and the steps that it takes to ensure citizen and stakeholder engagement. Thirty percent of cities are classified as beginners, 49% as intermediates and 21% as smart city leaders. The Rise of Cities 4.0 To analyze the impact of smart city solutions on sustainability, we identified a subset of SDG champions that also lead in smart technology. These cities, which we call “Cities 4.0,” serve as models for the cities of the future. They continue the evolution of smart cities from Smart Cities 1.0 to Smart Cities 3.0 and go beyond, by showing how to effectively use technology, data and citizen engagement to drive the SDGs. They are in step with new ways of working and excel at using an agile ecosystem of partners to spur Currently rated in the “Advancer” category of smart cities by ESI ThoughtLab’s analysis, Columbus, Ohio, is one of the leaders among 167 global metros in terms of smart city progress. Photo courtesy of ESI ThoughtLab They are further ahead in smart city initiatives On average, they widely deploy 14 smart city projects, vs. an average of 7 for others They have superior infrastructure Better public transportation, roads, parks, healthcare, and digital connectivity They have made the greatest progress on nearly all SDGs On average, 86% have progressed across all SDGs on vs. 59% for all cities What sets Cities 4.0 apart?72 JULY 2021 S I T E S EL E C T I O N change. ey demonstrate how, with the expectations of citizens rising, and businesses gearing up for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the most successful cities will be digitally transformed, fully sustainable and skilled in entirely new ways. What sets Cities . apart? Cities . are well ahead in all aspects of data management. ey are masters at collecting, integrating and protecting data, and making data accessible to citizens. Most of them have policies, resources and budgets in place to manage and analyze data at a high level of excellence. ey also tend to be more open in their use of data and integrate it across city departments. ey take concrete steps to harness data eff ectively. Most have policies, resources and budgets in place to manage and analyze data at a high level of excellence. ey tend to be more open in their use of data and integrate it across city departments. Cities . also unlock greater value from their ecosystems. ey are better at proactively managing their partnerships and they develop partnership skills across their city domains. ey prioritize public-private partnerships more than others and are more open to new ideas. And they enjoy greater personnel, fi scal, functional and regulatory independence from national, state and provincial control. Cities . also ensure that citizens are engaged and digitally connected. ey use a combination of digital and traditional methods to communicate with citizens. ey actively engage citizens and stakeholders when setting goals, demonstrate the value of projects and ensure that disadvantaged populations, including the poor and handicapped, are involved in the decision-making process. ESI oughtLab’s ongoing research program into sustainability and smart city solutions will serve as a roadmap for city actors across the world looking for best practices and to compare solutions. Readers can visit our Smart City Solutions for a Riskier World program microsite at citysolutions.riskierworld. com for the latest articles, insights, program updates and planned events. ESI ThoughtLab is the thought leadership arm of Econsult Solutions, a leading economic consultancy with links to the academic community. For more information, visit www.esithoughtlab.com. Smart meets sustainable: 20 cities Cities 4.0 Aarhus Los Angeles Athens Madrid Baltimore Moscow Barcelona New York Berlin Orlando Birmingham Paris Boston Philadelphia Copenhagen Singapore Helsinki Tallinn London Vienna 36 SDG sprinters 20 Cities 4.0 37 Smart city leaders74 JULY 2021 S I T E S EL E C T I O N How Innovation Hubs Surged Despite the Pandemic When Startup Genome released its annual Global Startup Ecosystem Report in June 2020, the world faced considerable uncertainty. The COVID-19 pandemic had led to a 74% drop in the number of Chinese venture rounds within two months, created an environment where it was unclear whether startup ecosystems could survive lockdowns, and spooked capital markets. As it turns out, startups ended up surviving and even thriving, setting the stage for bolstered innovation ecosystems. As we move further into 2021 and the pandemic’s grip on the world lessens, hubs are growing, and economic activity has jumped. Why were startup ecosystems surprisingly boosted in 2020? Where do things stand today? Which up- and-coming ecosystems are worth watching as we move ahead into by JF GAUTHIER editor@siteselection.com S T AR TUP & INNO V A TION HUBS Melbourne is one of two Australian innovation hubs on the rise. Photo: Getty Images76 JULY 2021 S I T E S EL E C T I O N MetroRankingPerformanceFundingConnectednessMarket ReachKnowledgeTalentGrowth Index Silicon Valley1101071010107 New York City2 (tie)10101095107 London2 (tie)91010107107 Beijing410911010109 Boston59999597 Tel-Aviv - Jerusalem6 (tie)99810496 Los Angeles6 (tie)91049796 Shanghai8108181099 Seattle98698786 Stockholm108558374 Washington DC115777186 Amsterdam1267107176 Paris134991184 Chicago145666187 Tokyo157813978 Berlin1677102177 Singapore174878147 Toronto-Waterloo185886268 Austin195675768 Seoul2073191054 San Diego216237666 Shenzhen227611959 Atlanta234146166 Denver-Boulder243565455 Vancouver256155247 Bengaluru264781825 Sydney273381156 Hangzhou288211939 Hong Kong293417116 Sao Paulo306142119 Bern-Geneva31 (tie)2113116 Dallas31 (tie)1114313 Miami31 (tie)3211116 Munich31 (tie)2461318 Salt Lake-Provo31 (tie)8115117 Copenhagen36 (tie)1124125 Delhi36 (tie)1511114 Dublin36 (tie)1351145 Melbourne36 (tie)1164115 Montréal36 (tie)1111126 Startup Genome’s 2020 Top Global Startup Ecosystems 31–35 & 36–40 are in alphabetical orderSource: Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2020Next >