Shanghai unveils action plan to boost industries of the future

Shanghai has released an action plan to boost the industries of the future by building and developing more industrial clusters.

The goal is to achieve a total output value of about 500 billion yuan (US$69.79 billion) in the industries of the future by 2030, and form a number of leading globally-advanced industrial clusters as of 2035, involving intelligent computing, artificial general intelligence, quantum technology, 6G technology, etc.

To nurture independent innovation in core technologies, the city is building research institutes of future industries, with the plan to establish about five future technology colleges and cultivate about 15 future industry innovation centers.

It is also looking to set up a number of innovation coalitions, and open a two-way channel linking basic research and applied basic research with industrialization.

To strengthen the future engine of the future industry cluster development, Shanghai is building five future industrial clusters, constructing about 15 pioneering areas for the industries of the future, tackling about a hundred core components, launching a hundred high-end products, and forming about a hundred "Chinese standards" to promote industrial agglomeration and leading development.

It will also form a future paradigm for the innovation of small, medium and large enterprises, setting goals to encourage about 10 leading enterprises to expand business in the industries of the future, develop about 20 eco-led enterprises, build about a hundred corporate technology centers, and nurture a thousand high-tech enterprises, which will promote the integration and mutual development of enterprises of all types of ownership.

To create an open and inclusive ecology with an agglomeration of factors, the city is actively participating in international big science programs and projects, introducing a number of high-level strategic scientists and entrepreneurs, and continuously optimizing the innovation ecology.

In terms of industrial cluster layout, the city plans to build clusters of the future health industries – involving brain-machine interface (BMI), biosecurity, synthetic biology, and gene and cell therapy – in the Pudong New Area as well as Baoshan, Minhang, Jinshan, and Fengxian districts.

Clusters of intelligent computing, artificial general intelligence, extended reality, quantum technology, and 6G technology industries, meanwhile, will be developed in districts, including Pudong, Xuhui, Yangpu, Baoshan, Minhang, Jiading and Qingpu.

The future energy industries involving advanced nuclear and advanced energy storage, the future space sectors, including deep-sea exploration and airspace utilization, as well as the future material industries, will also see industrial clusters be set up in various districts.