Scientists predicted that Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen are most likely to achieve major innovation breakthroughs in the research fields they are working on in the next 15 years, according to a report released at the Pujiang Innovation Forum held in Shanghai on Thursday.

The report, which is the result of a collaboration between the Shanghai Institute for Science of Science and American academic publishing company Springer Nature, is based on an online questionnaire that surveyed over 700 scientists in 20 major cities across the world.

The survey analyzed the possible major technological breakthroughs in the coming 5 to 15 years, predicted the most promising cities to gain such advances and explored the connections between technological innovation and city development.

"It aims to explore the significance of major cities in global scientific innovation and show a big picture of the development of science, technology and talent," said Shi Qian, director of Shanghai Institute of Science of Science.

The report, Ideal Cities 2020 - A Report on Global Science and Technology Innovation Cities for 2035, shows that most scientists (13.64 percent) viewed Beijing as a city that will first make technological breakthroughs globally in the future, followed by Shanghai (11.65 percent) and Shenzhen (11.08 percent).

The regions ranked the fourth to tenth are San Francisco, Boston, New York in the United States, Tokyo in Japan, Singapore, London in the United Kingdom, and Los Angeles in the US.

Specifically, scientists widely believe that Beijing will take the lead in innovation breakthroughs in engineering technology, physics, environmental science and ecology. Chemistry and medicine were deemed by scientists as two fields that Shanghai will make innovation breakthroughs in.

In addition, the survey showed that Beijing enjoys comprehensive and competitive advantages in various fields, particularly in basic research on genes and quantum. On the other hand, advantages in life and health-care sectors, including medical innovation, brain sciences and genetic engineering, made Shanghai a competitive city in the world.

Artificial intelligence, 6G communications and smart cities are believed to be the competitive edges that Shenzhen enjoys.

"Competition among global cities lies in both their influence on the world and the opportunities they offer for development. We hope the report sheds light on the governmental plans in technology and talent attraction," said Wang Xueying, associate researcher at the institute.