New book explores regional business innovation

Companies in the Yangtze River Delta region are sharing their best practices in innovation in a new book.

“We have selected 11 companies as models to study the genes of innovation in the region,” said Jiang Bin, secretary general of the Shanghai YRD Business Innovation Research Institute at a forum on Tuesday co-hosted by the institute and the School of Management at Fudan University.

“Companies in the region share a similar culture, and thus have more common language in their pursuit of innovation,” Jiang said.

The book, entitled "At the Forefront: Business Innovation in Yangtze River Delta (2019)," includes studies of MicroPort, iFlytek, ZTO Express, UCloud and Dt Dream, among others.

It elaborates on topics such as innovation ecosystems, artificial intelligence, smarter logistics, more efficient "cloud" management and better data analysis. 

The selected companies cover Shanghai and all three provinces in the region. The book and the studies behind it are part of efforts in the integrated development of the delta region, a national strategy initiated by President Xi Jinping in 2018.