Shanghai welcomes more investment in the eight areas of integrated circuits, biomedicine, artificial intelligence, next-generation electronic information, intelligent connected new energy vehicles, high-end equipment, advanced materials, and modern services, the municipal government said on Nov 6.

The information was released during the city promotion conference, which was part of the ongoing ninth China International Import Expo.

The city is seeing vibrant entrepreneurship, with more than 300 technology-based startups founded every day, said Chen Jining, Shanghai's Party secretary, during the event. Over the past four years, both the number of Shanghai-based companies listed on the STAR Market at the Shanghai bourse and their total valuation have ranked first in the country, he said.

Companies from around the world are welcome to integrate into Shanghai's innovation ecosystem and create new engines for development, Chen said.

Foreign-invested enterprises are also accelerating their development in Shanghai, Mayor Zhu Zhongming said at the conference.

About 6,000 new foreign-invested enterprises are established in the city each year, with the total number of foreign companies exceeding 80,000. The city is now home to the regional headquarters of 1,124 multinational companies and 680 foreign-funded research centers. According to Zhu, the city's cumulative utilized foreign direct investment has exceeded $390 billion.

The city's innovation momentum continues to build. Last year, Shanghai employed 254,000 college graduates and attracted 1,630 senior overseas professionals at the national and municipal levels. The number of high-tech enterprises in the city has also surpassed 24,000.

While total R&D expenditure accounts for 4.55 percent of Shanghai's current GDP, this proportion will rise to over 5 percent by 2030. During the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), the average annual growth rate of the three major pioneering industries — IC, biomedicine, and AI — is expected to exceed 10 percent.

Source: China Daily