Money floods in to fund city's high-tech plan
Shanghai’s high-tech heartland, the Zhangjiang High Tech Park in the Pudong New Area, has attracted more than 15.4 billion yuan (US$2.23 billion) in investment — including from giants such as Alibaba, ABB and IBM.
The city wants to build Zhangjiang into a “Science and Innovation Hub” to fuel the local economy and transform industry.
Yesterday, a ceremony was held for all companies signing up for new projects or which have already moved in.
Among those signing up was Swiss engineering company ABB, several medical organizations and an artificial intelligence project by Tongji University — for projects worth a total 3.6 billion yuan.
ABB already has a research and manufacturing base for small and medium-sized robots in Zhangjiang — the company’s biggest investment on the Chinese mainland.
A total of 28 companies have already moved in, with investments of 11.8 billion yuan. Among them, IBM has invested US$30 million to set up a local headquarters.
Alibaba has established an innovation center for embedded and artificial intelligence chips. This year, it will start trial production. By 2020, Alibaba will have 700 employees in Zhangjiang.
