Putuo launches Shanghai Science and Technology Financial Industrial Park

Putuo District / Ti Gong

PUTUO District has announced it is to expand its Changfeng Eco-Business District into the Shanghai Science and Technology Financial Industrial Park, the first of its kind in Shanghai.

The district government made the announcement at the 2017 Changfeng Science and Technology Financial Forum on December 9.

Themed on “deepen financial innovation and service entity economy,” the forum was jointly held by the Putuo District, Shanghai Science and Technology Commission, Shanghai Financial Services Office and Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

At the forum, the district government signed memorandums of strategic cooperation with the Fosun Group and Tebon Securities to integrate financial resources to base in the newly established park.

As a highlight, the district government also signed a memorandum of cooperation with Shanghai Jinpu Investment Management Co to establish the second phase of the Shanghai Financial Development Investment Fund totaling 1.5 billion yuan (US$227 million).

The fund will be invested in science and technology finance, intelligent manufacturing and other industry-oriented enterprises to guide the financial capital and help achieve the value of science and technology.

The new science and technology finance park will be featured by four major industrial zones on the science and technology financial, Internet plus, intelligent technology and international education.

“Science and technology finance is a combination of industry and finance,” said Zhou Minhao, director with the Putuo District.

Financial sector innovation

The development of information technology and the Internet has promoted the innovation and transformation of financial instruments and financial services. In turn, the development of the financial industry also serves science and technology enterprises as well as help transformation of scientific and technological achievements.

Putuo has long had the resources and advantages of developing science and technology finance, the district government said.

The district features 17 major research institutes with national influence, such as the Shanghai Electrical Apparatus Research Institute (Group) Co and China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, as well as two major universities, the Tongji University and East China Normal University.

Thirty-four robotic industries and related companies are based in Putuo. The China-Israel robot investment and incubation center has become an important hub to drive the city government’s ambition to be a scientific and innovation center with global influence.

Furthermore, the district, covering 55 square kilometers downtown, has sufficient space for manufacturing, research and development, as well as offices. The district is also the only downtown area that has the inner, middle and outer ring roads running through. They offer convenient transport to neighboring provinces and other Chinese regions.

Now, the 2.2-square-kilometer Changfeng Eco-Business District will expand to the north of Caoyang Road in the east, Suzhou Creek in the south and Wuning Road in the north to the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway, reaching a total area of ​​10 square kilometers.

The Changfeng ecological business district is among the first batch of modern service centers promoted by the city government. It has been deemed as a demonstration for transformation of Shanghai’s old industrial zone.

After nearly a decade of development, the Changfeng district, which now becomes the core area of the new science and technology financial park, has begun taking shape. A number of headquarters have been based in the park, such as the US-based Ecolab Inc, a food safety and environmental protection solutions provider, the Asia Pacific headquarters of Tarkett, a flooring company, and Ele.me, the popular online food delivery company. The Changfeng district has established a complete financial system on mergers and acquisitions. It is estimated that by 2020, the total annual tax revenue of Changfeng Eco-Business District will reach 16 billion yuan (US$2.4 billion).

Research and development

In the future, the Shanghai Science and Technology Financial Park will focus on research and development, financial innovation, scientific achievement transformation and the integration of industry and finance development. It will also take ecological and environmental measures and make contributions to regional development.

According to the blueprint, the park will form three major industrial clusters on scientific innovation, finance and the high-end comprehensive service industry.

The scientific innovation cluster plans to gather high-tech companies along with R&D and training centers on artificial intelligence, intelligent manufacturing, robotics, big data, cloud computing, block chain and intelligent hardware.

The finance industry cluster will gather a batch of traditional finance, consisting of banking, securities, insurance and funds along with the new financial forms represented by Internet finance and financial leasing.

The service cluster will include a trading platform, service agency, industry alliance and association, as well as research institutions and laboratories.

A series of industry service platforms have been gradually formed in the park.

The China Science and Technology Innovation Finance Alliance, for instance, aims to attract more social investments to scientific innovation and startup companies and help to promote the industrialization of innovation achievements of the companies.

Industry support

Putuo will also take this as an opportunity to further increase the financial industry support and create a good business environment.

Putuo has issued a guideline to accelerate developing the financial service industry.

It says the district should focus on policy guidance and the financial headquarters economy, as well as enhance the quality of cohesion and radiation of the financial industry in Putuo.

The guideline encourages qualified large-scale enterprise groups to set up financial companies to improve the efficiency and level of capital utilization.

The district government has also released a batch of supportive policies to back the development on scientific and innovative industries. Many of the policies aim to attract more global professionals to Putuo.

Several senior experts and company officials, including Xu Zhen, Party secretary and president of the Shanghai Clearing House, Li Huaizhen, executive director and president of the China Minsheng Investment Co, Jin Yu, Party secretary and board of chairman of Bank of Shanghai, and Ding Jianping, director of the Research Center for Modern Finance at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, gave keynote speeches on financial industries at the forum.