City to set aside 4.5 percent of GDP for R&D, launch global sci-tech program

Shanghai's GDP is expected to grow around 5 percent in 2025, with science and technology innovation serving as a key engine to drive growth toward a prosperous and resilient future, Mayor Gong Zheng said on Jan 15.

Delivering the Shanghai Municipal Government Work Report at the annual session of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress, the city's legislative body, Gong highlighted the city's achievements as one of China's most dynamic economic hubs. Shanghai's GDP surpassed 5 trillion yuan ($682 billion) last year, marking a new phase in its urban economic scale.

Shanghai plans to allocate research and development funding equivalent to around 4.5 percent of its total GDP this year, up from 3.41 percent in 2014 when the city first set the goal of becoming an international center for science and technology innovation.

"Focusing on strategic frontier fields such as cell and gene therapy, brain-computer interfaces, 6G, quantum computing and fusion energy, Shanghai must proactively strengthen its research programs to ensure they are forward-looking, strategic and systematic," Gong said.

This year, Shanghai will launch a global science and technology partnership program, he added. A new batch of labs involving collaborations between local scientists and those from Belt and Road Initiative countries and regions will be established. Gong emphasized the city's commitment to attracting global talent in strategic scientific and technological fields, as well as first-class leaders and innovative teams.

As Shanghai transitions from building the framework for its science and technology innovation center to enhancing its functional capabilities, the report underscored the importance of bolstering innovation capacity at its source.

"We'll accelerate the construction of pilot zones for basic research, enhance organized scientific research and support high-risk, high-value basic research," Gong said.

According to the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission, basic research investment accounted for 10.6 percent of the city's total R&D expenditure in 2023, significantly higher than the national average of 6.65 percent. Shanghai-based researchers published 120 papers in top-tier journals such as Nature, Science and Cell last year, contributing to a quarter of China's total publications in these journals.

By the end of 2024, Shanghai had taken the lead in more than 900 major national science and technology projects, achieving a series of groundbreaking innovations.

Industrial transformation and upgrading remain a key focus for the city this year. Shanghai aims to prioritize high-end, intelligent, green and integrated development to maintain its position as a reform and opening-up pioneer and an international metropolis with strong global ties.

Gong outlined plans to optimize the spatial layout of the integrated circuit industry, advance the biomedical industry along the entire value chain and establish a hub for artificial intelligence innovation. Additionally, Shanghai will cultivate and expand strategic emerging industries, including the low-altitude economy, large aircraft manufacturing, new energy vehicles, intelligent terminals, marine equipment, spatial information technology and robotics.

In line with its emphasis on intelligent and green industrial development, the city will accelerate the large-scale application of the industrial internet, promote smart factory construction, and advance intelligent robot R&D and application.

Last year, 60 regional headquarters of multinational corporations and 30 foreign-funded R&D centers were newly established in Shanghai, bringing the totals to 1,016 and 591, respectively. Deputies to the city congress highlighted this as evidence of Shanghai's competitiveness in attracting foreign investment, particularly in global high-end sectors.

Song Gang, a deputy to the city congress and senior vice-president of integrated supply chain at Envision Energy, a local provider of smart energy technology solutions, praised the synergy between Shanghai's scientific and technological strengths and enterprises' global market presence.

"We aim to mobilize domestic enterprises to expand international business and attract overseas cooperation. Our goal is to become a 100-billion-yuan enterprise," Song said.