New rankings highlight Sydney's research and innovation strength

A series of global rankings released this month confirm Sydney as a prime hub for both research excellence and technological innovation, further bolstering the city’s position as a leading destination for quantum research and start-ups.

Sydney once again took top spot for the Southern Hemisphere in the 2026 Startup Genome Report, one of the most authoritative annual snapshots available of the current state of startup ecosystems worldwide.

Ranked 26th globally, the predicted value of Sydney’s startup ecosystem also soared in 2026 to $59.66 billion – up almost $5 billion since last year’s report – signalling growing investment in the ecosystem’s globally-competitive technology companies. These include quantum firms Silicon Quantum Computing, Diraq, Emergence Quantum and Q-CTRL, which were all highlighted in the report as examples of sub-sector strengths anchoring Sydney’s favourable result – and all spinouts from Sydney Quantum Academy’s (SQA) partner universities.

Meanwhile, the latest Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings for 2027 have placed all of SQA’s partner universities amongst the top 8% globally out of 1,504 institutions.

The results are further evidence of Sydney’s appeal as a leading quantum cluster. According to the 2026 Smart Cities Index, Sydney placed 22nd globally, a result powered by the city’s advanced digital infrastructure and innovation culture.

With almost half (~40%) of Australia’s tech startups choosing Sydney as a base, driving around 65% of the nation’s total startup funding (2025 Startup Genome Report), there’s never been a better time to join one of the world’s most vibrant quantum ecosystems