BY Helen Kay | Wednesday 17 September 2025
Searches for business innovation have climbed 69% across Europe in the last quarter, showing just how vital creativity, technology, and fresh thinking have become.
While hubs like London and Paris are often seen as innovation frontrunners – fostering cutting-edge tech, sustainable solutions, and dynamic startup scenes – they’re not the only cities making bold moves.
With this in mind, Adobe Express set out to rank the most innovative cities across the UK and Europe, analysing key factors including university rankings, Wi-Fi speeds, and tech jobs per 100,000 people, to reveal the hotspots where innovation is thriving.
Probably unsurprisingly in the UK rankings, London took top spot, with another pair of Southern cities – intriguingly not Oxford or Cambridge, but rather Southampton and Bristol – rounding out the top three.
Hull placed a very respectable eighth place with an overall index score of 40.42. The city had the highest percentage of Wi-Fi speed of 163 Mbps. The findings reflect the city’s reputation as a hotspot for digital innovation.
A double placing for Yorkshire cities, with both Leeds and Hull featuring in the top ten
