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Special Report
Leveraging Intellectual Capital
An annual analysis of a destination’s strength of representation in international association leadership.
About the Report
A knowledge-intensive economy based on innovation, creativity and science has become the key competitive factor for today’s destinations, whether cities, countries or regions. All of this contributes to the intangible value of a destination, based on its intellectual capital—the intangible, knowledge-based assets, including human capital.
Since 2020, the GainingEdge has continually researched the Intellectual Capital of convention destinations. The research underpinning our annual Leveraging Intellectual Capital report identifies the relative strengths of 350 destinations via the presence of their local intellectual leaders in the governing bodies of international associations that organise large conventions with 500 or more attendees.
Key findings in each report include:
- A Top 50 ranking of destinations (cities/countries) with the greatest influence in international associations
- How well destinations leverage their local leaders by engaging them to bring conventions to the city (their “Harnessing Ratio” – the correlation between number of international association meetings hosted or booked over the last 4 years and number of local intellectual leaders on boards of international associations)
- The key industry sectors and scientific fields where destinations are best represented in international association leadership.
Miloš Milovanović
Head of GainingEdge Analysis & Research (GEAR)
For More Information
Leveraging Intellectual Capital 2021
Since 2020, the GainingEdge has continually researched the intellectual capital of convention destinations.
For the second year running, GainingEdge has researched the intellectual capital of global destinations through extensive study of international associations data available on public platforms.
Strong and strategic cooperation with intellectual leaders allows meeting destinations to leverage these leaders to attract international scientific and business conferences, and effectively promote themselves as hubs of excellence in areas of social and economic development. Destinations with a mature convention industry usually harness their intellectual capital well, leading to growth and advancement.
In 2021, we expanded our research to obtain data about the members of boards of international associations which also organise smaller meetings. This enables us to do Intellectual Capital Segmentation where we can filter the available intellectual capital for each city by the size of the meetings and provide insights into the available intellectual capital in the industry sectors in which the destination is particularly interested. Thus, destinations with fewer resources can focus on priority segments and achieve improved results.
Key Takeaways
In this year’s report, among the Top 50 Cities, there are 13,488 members present at governing bodies of international associations which organise conventions attracting at least 500 delegates.
At the top of the list are Paris with local leaders in 644 international boards (16 more than last year); Tokyo with 509 (+21); Beijing with 438 (+10) and New York with 530 (56 less than last year). The destinations that experienced the greatest increase in the influence of their local leaders on association boards compared to the previous year are Sydney with its leaders active in 46 additional boards, followed by Kuala Lumpur and Singapore (with +34 each) and Seoul (+28).
Intellectual Capital Engagement is key to success for a meetings destination, so the city should explore who are the local leaders with high international reputation and how to engage them.
Our Harnessing Ratio provides destinations a great starting point for assessing how to leverage their intellectual capital and what action should be taken to increase its use.
All meeting destinations aspire to increase their conversion or bid win rate. To achieve this, destinations should undertake ‘smart’ bid strategies and a very effective tool is to engage local leaders with a strong reputation to support their bids.
If the convention bureau and the local industry have a strong and creative collaboration, they can develop advanced marketing programs which will be significantly improved through active engagement of their local knowledge leaders.
Based on our research, we can provide destinations with valuable insights into:
Comparing the number of its internationally active intellectual leaders against competing cities.
Identifying influential knowledge leaders within international associations allows engagement in ‘smart’ bidding to increase conversion rates and achieve business goals.
In line with their capacities and capabilities, destinations can segment the association market and actively engage local leaders from key segments.
By knowing who these internationally recognized local leaders are, destinations will understand their scientific expertise and related industry sectors.
Cities can adopt hubs of excellence positioning and use their intellectual leaders as promoters of their knowledge brand.
GainingEdge Experts on This Special Report
Miloš Milovanović
Head of GainingEdge Analysis & Research (GEAR)
