As we wrote in our December cover story, Globalizing Knowledge, cities are entering a new era of competition, remaking their identities and rebranding themselves around clusters of innovation.

Last September, a group of senior city leaders, education and industrial experts, and innovators met at Harvard University’s Technology and Entrepreneurship Center in the Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science for the  2015 Summit on Enabling Innovation Economies for the Future.

One of the things that came out of the summit was a model for predicting which U.S. cities were most “future-ready,” based on three primary characteristics:

•The ability to attract people who are engaged in and open to lifelong learning that drives innovation

•Businesses that thrive in collaborative environments

•Infrastructure that provides platforms for people to engage, collaborate, learn, and innovate.

The study is available here. An international index of cities will be released in the near future, its sponsors say.

1. San Jose 
2. San Francisco
3. Washington, DC
4. Boston
5. Austin, Texas
6. Raleigh, North Carolina
7. Seattle
8. Denver
9. Portland, Oregon
10. Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
11. New York, New York
12. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota
13. Houston, Texas
14. Atlanta, Georgia
15. Charlotte, North Carolina
16. San Diego, California
17. Chicago
18. Louisville, Kentucky
19. Salt Lake City, Utah
20. Des Moines, Iow
21. Los Angeles
22. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
23. Kansas City, Missouri
24. Columbus, Ohio
25. Philadelphia