Lai See | Hong Kong only has two good think tanks, global index shows

Hong Kong has about 30 think tanks. But how good are they? To get an idea, we turned to the latest report of the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Programme at the University of Pennsylvania. It is often referred to as the "think tanks' think tank". The institute has been operating for 25 years and specialises in looking at "the evolving role and character of public policy research organisations," according to its introduction.

In 2007, the organisation developed and launched the global index of think tanks, which is designed to identify and recognise centres of excellence in all the major areas of public policy research in every region of the world.

Only two Hong Kong think tanks are ranked in the survey. One is the Hong Kong Centre for Economic Research, which is ranked 35 in the Top Domestic Economic Policy Think Tanks category. The centre is part of the University of Hong Kong and is headed by Richard Y.C. Wong. The other is the Civic Exchange, which is ranked 44 in the Top Environment Think Tanks category. It is also the only self-funded Hong Kong think tank to get recognised in this survey globally.

Altogether, there are 6,826 think tanks in the world, with 1,201 in Asia, 1,818 in Europe and 1,984 in North America. The United States has the most, with 1,828, followed by China with 426, Britain with 287, India with 268 and Germany with 194. The Brookings Institution is ranked as the Top Think Tank Worldwide, followed by Chatham House (Britain), Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (US), the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (US) and Bruegel (Belgium).