City pushing for laboratory approval

Shanghai will further promote construction of the Zhangjiang Comprehensive National Science Center and strive to have its project of building the Zhangjiang National Laboratory approved by the nation as soon as possible, the local government said on Tuesday.

According to Vice Mayor Wu Qing, by 2020, the city’s construction of an innovation center for science and technology will have formed its fundamental structure and system.

“It will have completed the construction of several high-level research centers, platforms and facilities including the Zhangjiang National Laboratory, a comprehensive research platform which is under preparation,” said Wu. “We will have breakthroughs in key fields like integrated circuit, artificial intelligence and biological medicine.”

Peng Song, deputy director of the Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Promotion Office, said that besides the current Zhangjiang Laboratory and the Shanghai Research Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Intelligence, they are also working on the construction of more specialized labs like the Zhangjiang Pharmaceutical Laboratory. 

The construction of high-level innovation centers such as the Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, Fudan Zhangjiang International Innovation Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Zhangjiang Science Park and Zhu Guangya Research Center will be enhanced as well.

Based on the Zhangjiang Science City, a regional coordinated development on science and technology innovation in the Yangtze River Delta will also be promoted.

Meanwhile, Shanghai will improve its financial system on science and technology with the guidance of the science and technology board to boost the transfer and transformaction of technologies.

Now local science and technology innovation enterprises are being encouraged to participate in the construction of this board.

So far there are 14 national important science and technology infrastructures which have been built or are under construction in Shanghai. The city has also led more than 850 national important projects on science and technology, ranking high across the country.