Chinese cities reported strong performance at a latest knowledge competitiveness ranking, grabbing five seats among the top 10, The Paper reported.

Singapore ranked first in knowledge competitiveness in Asia-Pacific, followed by Seoul and Tokyo, according to the Asia-Pacific Knowledge Competitiveness Index released at the Pujiang Innovation Forum Monday.

The index, which accesses 19 indicators of 53 leading regions in Asia-Pacific, reflects their capabilities to transform knowledge capital into economic value and resident wealth. It was compiled by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and has been released nine years in a row since 2010.

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ranked fourth, and Shanghai fifth. Zhejiang province, Tianjin municipality and Jiangsu province all entered the top 20 rankings.

Compared with last year, several Chinese regions saw their knowledge competitiveness on the rise, among which Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces moved up 11 and six spots respectively, said Luo Shougui, chief expert of the Knowledge Competitiveness Index and professor of Antai College of Economics and Management of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Luo also pointed out some highlights of low-ranking central and western regions. In terms of economic activity rate, Tibet, Yunnan, Anhui, Henan, Hainan and Guizhou all entered the top 10. Meanwhile, Gansu and Hainan ranked third and sixth respectively on the employment level.

Overall the central and local governments have reached consensus on transforming economic development pattern, and established stable and sustainable growth mechanism on technology and education investment, which will play an important role in increasing the quality of production factors and establishing new economic drivers.