Shanghai is striving to become a global leader in science and technology innovation. [Photo/CFP]

Shanghai is striving to become a global leader in science and technology innovation, as well as a top performer in China and the world. The city is implementing the innovation-driven development strategy, accelerating its progress toward a globally influential science and technology innovation centre, and carrying out national strategic science and technology tasks.

Shanghai aims to promote high-level self-reliance in science and technology, strengthen a systematic approach, and enhance synergy between science and technology, education and personnel. The city has also draughted measures for a smart city and digital economy, sped up the transformation of innovation and industrialisation of scientific achievements, and invested more efforts into key scientific projects while improving its innovation capacity.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, Shanghai's science and technology innovation centre entered a key stage of transition from establishing a basic framework to achieving comprehensive and functional upgrades. The city has achieved remarkable results in various fields of science and technology. Shanghai has won all three major national science and technology awards.

The city has contributed to space projects such as Tianzhou, Shenzhou, Xihe and Zhurong. The city has built Siyuan, an all-depth unmanned sea submersible. The country's first 8-inch silicon photonic pilot line was built in Shanghai. The city has launched the first open-source platform for decision intelligence that meets the needs of academic research and industrial applications internationally.

Shanghai has implemented a "Shanghai Plan" to boost integrated circuits, biomedicine and artificial intelligence. The city's integrated circuit industry accounted for more than one-fifth of the country's total, and the city gathered one-third of all the AI industry's professionals. According to the Global Innovation Index 2023 issued by the World Intellectual Property Organization, the Shanghai-Suzhou cluster improved its ranking by one spot, placing fifth among the world's top 100 science-technology clusters.

 

Sources: Information Office of Shanghai Municipality, Shanghai Municipal Statistics Bureau