The World Top-Performing Incubator Conference 2025 opened on Sept 22 in the Lin-gang Special Area.

As part of the 18th Pujiang Innovation Forum series, this year's conference was themed "Tech-powered: Innovation Incubates the Future". It attracted incubator professionals, investors, tech project leaders, and industry experts from more than 30 countries and regions to exchange insights on emerging trends, challenges, and opportunities.

The International Innovation Synergy Incubation Alliance, launched at the inaugural incubator conference in 2023 in Lin-gang, expanded its global network this year. Ten global partners joined this year, including leading international incubators, innovation organizations, and sci-tech projects such as Canada's YEDI, Spain's Startups ST, Italy's Cube Labs, and the Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park from the UAE.

Another highlight was the debut of the Global Link Lab, a new matchmaking platform designed to facilitate cross-border resource connections. The program addresses the local and international needs of governments, incubators, and tech projects, promoting closed-loop collaboration in technology, capital, market access, and policy support.

During the conference, Lin-gang also launched the Global Youth Startup Hub initiative, inviting outstanding global incubators, universities, research institutes, investment agencies, and corporate innovation centers to help build a hub for young talent and innovators.

Lin-gang is positioning itself as a science and innovation city centered on distinctive innovation and entrepreneurship. The area has focused on assembling high-level R&D platforms, quality incubators, and professional accelerators, while strengthening foundational research, applied innovation, and project commercialization. By leveraging its advanced manufacturing base, affordable startup spaces, and specialized talent policies, Lin-gang is striving to build premier innovation communities to attract young innovators worldwide, establishing itself as a leading destination for entrepreneurship in Shanghai.

The opening ceremony also saw the release of the 2025 Shanghai Incubator Ecology White Paper. According to the report, by the end of 2024, the total incubation space in Shanghai had reached 4.36 million square meters. Nearly 21 percent of enterprises under incubation were concentrated in the city's three leading industries, biopharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence, and integrated circuits, while about 30 percent were engaged in sci-tech services.

Sources: Jiefang Daily, Wenhui Daily, Official WeChat account of Shanghai Lin-gang at "shlgguanweihui"