Several major cities in the Yangtze River Delta region — Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Hefei — have recently unveiled their recommendations for formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30).

All five are designated as key hub cities in the Yangtze River Delta region or East China under China's national spatial planning framework. Taken together, their policy recommendations offer a clear window into how the YRD is aligning development priorities and strengthening coordination with Shanghai to advance regional integration.

A review of the plans reveals two prominent themes: building a world-class science and innovation hub, and enhancing integrated transport and logistics capacity.

International Science and Technology Innovation Center

The Shanghai (Yangtze River Delta) International Science and Technology Innovation Center has emerged as a central focus of the region's integration agenda, with Shanghai taking the lead in driving innovation-driven development across the YRD region.

According to their respective recommendations for the 15th Five-Year Plan, cities across the region are aligning their strategies with the development of this innovation center:

• Nanjing proposes high-quality development of the Zijinshan Innovation Belt, focusing on original innovation, technological R&D, industrial transformation, and the integration of technology and finance, to become a key pivot city in building the innovation center.
• Suzhou seeks deeper integration into the regional innovation system, positioning itself as a core area for industrial and technological innovation with global influence.
• Hangzhou emphasizes seizing the opportunity of jointly building the YRD innovation center while strengthening its independent innovation capacity.
• Ningbo proposes actively participating in the development of the innovation center and jointly building major innovation and industrial platforms.
• Hefei plans to use the joint development of the center as a driving force to support the development of strategic scientific and technological institutions, including national laboratories and major research infrastructure, with the aim of building a globally leading cluster of major scientific infrastructure.

Together, these efforts reflect a coordinated push toward an innovation community led by Shanghai and supported by strong intercity collaboration across the YRD.

The foundation for deeper collaboration is already in place. In the Global Innovation Index 2025 released by the World Intellectual Property Organization, the Shanghai-Suzhou innovation cluster ranked sixth among the world's top 100 innovation clusters.

Hub development

Hub development is another key priority across the five cities' plans. Enhancing connectivity and openness is viewed as essential to advancing both regional integration and global engagement.

According to their respective recommendations for the 15th Five-Year Plan, the cities have outlined the following priorities for 2026-30:

• Nanjing will strengthen its role as a regional shipping and logistics hub by enhancing coordination with Shanghai Port and Ningbo Port.
• Suzhou proposes promoting the integrated development of Suzhou Port, consolidating its position as a river-sea transshipment hub, and strengthening its role as the northern wing of the Shanghai international shipping center.

The city also proposes jointly upgrading the Hongqiao International Opening-up Hub with Shanghai and actively linking it with the Shanghai Eastern Hub International Business Cooperation Zone, further promoting investment and trade liberalization and facilitation.

• Ningbo aims to elevate its status as an international gateway hub, leveraging the world's leading cargo throughput of Ningbo-Zhoushan Port and making major progress in building a one-hour transport circle linking Shanghai and Ningbo.
• Hefei will upgrade the capacity of its comprehensive transport and logistics hub, including the completion of the Hefei-Wuhan and Hefei-Nanjing sections of the Shanghai-Chongqing-Chengdu high-speed railway.

The city will also accelerate the development of the Hefei linkage zone under the Hongqiao International Opening-up Hub and actively integrate it with the Shanghai Eastern Hub International Business Cooperation Zone.

Source: Jiefang Daily