1、Innovative elements accelerate free flow and efficient clustering in the Yangtze River Delta to facilitate development through opening up
In 2023, the total economic output of the Yangtze River Delta region exceeded RMB30 trillion, with 4% of the land area, gathering about 17% of China’s population and creating nearly a quarter of the total economic output. In the national economic map, the Yangtze River Delta region is one of the regions with the most active economy, the highest degree of openness and the strongest innovation ability.
With the acceleration of the integration process of the Yangtze River Delta, all localities have given full play to their comparative advantages, achieved a more optimized division of labor, gathered stronger synergy, provided higher-level scientific and technological supply, and supported the high-quality development of the whole country.
With the development of Shanghai's new energy automobile industry, in the Yangtze River Delta, a "4-hour industrial circle" has gradually taken shape: Shanghai offers a "brain" composed of chips and software; Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, about 200 kilometers west, provides power batteries as the "heart"; and Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, more than 200 kilometers south, supplies an integrated die-casting machine that completes the "body". Therefore, a new energy vehicle manufacturer can accomplish the supply of supporting parts within 4 hours' drive.
The core components of industrial robots are highly dependent on imports. In order to resist the industrial chain and supply chain risks thus caused, in July 2022, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informationization sent a letter to the Departments of Industry and Information Technology of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui provinces, requesting 12 companies upstream and downstream of the Yangtze River Delta robot industry chain to jointly build robots whose parts are solely supplied by the Yangtze River Delta region.
To link regional and even global innovation elements and achieve a wider dimension and higher quality of matchmaking, the three provinces and one municipality in the Yangtze River Delta are making efforts to improve the ability of scientific and technological innovation sources and create a more globally competitive innovation ecosystem. This January, statistics released by relevant institutions showed that the "new color" of the Yangtze River Delta industry is becoming more and more abundant - the industrial scale of integrated circuits, biomedicine and artificial intelligence has accounted for 3/5, 1/3 and 1/3 of China's total respectively, and there are more than 270 listed companies on the STAR Board, accounting for 48% of the country's total.
Facing the busy main channel of the Pacific Ocean, the Yangtze River Delta is now with Shanghai and Ningbo Zhoushan ports as the core, and 16 ports including Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Suzhou as the backbone. The overall pattern of port clusters in which other ports develop together has basically taken shape. In 2023, the container throughput of the Yangtze River Delta ports accounts for about 38% of China's total.
2、Pioneering reform, leading opening up and ground-breaking innovation – The leading zone construction has achieved a number of important results over three years
Pudong New Area adheres to the guidance of Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thoroughly implements the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech during his inspection of Shanghai, and effectively shoulders the main responsibilities in accordance with the decisions and arrangements of CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and Shanghai Municipal People’s Government. Under the synergy, the leading zone construction has been vigorously promoted, and essential results have been achieved in pioneering reform, leading opening up and ground-breaking innovation.
In the past three years, Pudong's independent innovation capability has been further enhanced, and hard-core scientific and technological achievements have continued to emerge. China's first CAR-T cell therapy product was approved for marketing and achieved mass production. The only four-arm endoscopic surgical robot developed by a Chinese company and approved for marketing in China was born in Pudong. The C919 large aircraft officially started commercial passenger carrying, and the world's largest river-sea intermodal LNG ship and China's first ultra-large container ship with the world's largest 24,000 TEU were signed and delivered.
Strategic scientific and technological forces are clustering. Key projects such as Zhangjiang Laboratory R&D Building, Hard X-ray Free Electron Laser Device and Shanghai Institute of Advanced Studies of Zhejiang University have been accelerated. Li Zhengdao Research Institute has been put into operation, and Shanghai Light Source, Soft X-ray Free Electron Laser User Device and other major national scientific and technological infrastructure in Shanghai have been opened to users.
Science and technology incubation capabilities continue to strengthen. The Group Open Innovation (GOI) has awarded a total of 103 licensed enterprises and empowered more than 3,000 enterprises. The Incubation Peak Plateau Plan was introduced. There are 194 innovative incubators and 7 technology enterprise accelerators in Pudong, with an incubation area of over 1.4 million square meters. The platform of open bidding for selecting the best candidates has released more than 200 projects, with a total intended investment of over RMB700 million. The recommendation work of the National Natural Science Foundation of China Regional Innovation and Development Joint Fund is progressing steadily. In 2023 and 2024, Pudong had 12 and 20 guidelines recommended to the National Natural Science Foundation of China respectively. The angel fund of funds in the leading zone has carried out practical operations.
The open innovation environment has been further optimized. The reform of entry quarantine for special biomedical items and the pilot import of R&D items continued to deepen. Tax policies for scientific and technological innovation, such as corporate income tax for corporate venture capital and decentralization of import tax exemption qualifications for four types of R&D institutions, have been implemented.
