Innovation Leader, a research group that publishes a quarterly magazine, has named Detroit one of the top 10 innovation hubs in North America.

The group's inaugural list — released today and based mostly on objective criteria — gave Detroit an edge over Chicago, Denver and Portland because it focused heavily on research and development by big companies.

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"Detroit is on the list, mainly, because of all the auto industry R&D and specifically the autonomous car activity that's happening there," said Scott Kirsner, the editor and co-founder of Innovation Leader. "You have companies like Uber putting down roots there to do a lot of autonomous car development, and we also see supplier companies doing investment in next-generation dashboard displays and voice-driven command systems and how our cars are going to connect to mobile devices."

Kirsner also singled out the metro area's research universities, specifically the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor; the growing number of tech start-ups and entrepreneurs in the city, and companies such as Quicken Loans and Shinola that have gotten considerable media buzz.

One clear message from his research: Don't write off the auto industry.

Kirsner makes the case that auto companies rank among the biggest research investors in the world and that investment in research and development — as much as entrepreneurship, venture capital and number of start-ups — also should factor into an analysis of innovation in a metro area.

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"Detroit is a city that is going to have a big impact on how we get around in the future, whether that's cars that we own, or cars that we rent — or cars that fly or hover," Kirsner said. "There's so much money being spent and so many smart people applying themselves to the future of transportation there."

Kirsner, a business journalist for two decades, said the Cambridge, Mass-based group, started by selecting about 40 cities where large publicly traded companies were based and narrowed that to 10, with five more it called up-and-comers.

In addition to research labs, the group also looked at major tech companies in the area, start-up density, top research universities and the number of conferences, trade shows, and networking events.

Detroit came in at No. 10. San Francisco, Boston and New York — obvious candidates — were No. 1, 2 and 3. They were followed by Los Angeles, Seattle, Atlanta, Washington, D.C,, Toronto and Minneapolis.

The up-and-comers were Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Portland and St. Louis.

Innovation Leader intends to compile a list every year.

Next year, Kirsner said, the group expects to expand the list beyond North America.

"You can argue with any list. That's what makes it interesting," he said. "This is a list of big companies and their investment in innovation, and secondarily around that is the start-up ecosystem and the academic ecosystem and other factors."

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com