Officials highlight Zhangjiang's key role

Zhangjiang plays an innovation-driven role in Shanghai, while Shanghai is a key innovation driver behind the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region, according to a government meeting on Tuesday.

A new regulation to support the city’s development as a science and technology innovation hub with global influence will take effect in May. It specifies the duties of authorities, stresses the importance of supporting innovation and proposes greater financial aid, more intellectual property protection and a better innovation environment.

“Our efforts to create the most relaxed environment for innovation, make the most support policies and grant the strongest guarantees are demonstrated in the regulation,” Wu Qing, deputy mayor, told the meeting.

Zhangjiang is the main battlefield in the city’s innovation blueprint, Peng Song, deputy executive director of the Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Promotion Office, said.

There are three “Zhangjiangs,” Peng said, a place, a city-wide program and a state-level strategy.

Covering 95 square kilometers in the Pudong New Area, Zhangjiang Science City grew from the Zhangjiang High Science and Technology Park. It is building a cluster of major science facilities and innovation incubators to turn ideas into products.

The Zhangjiang National Innovation Zone is part of the city’s “Focus Zhangjiang” strategy which hopes to replicate Zhangjiang’s success across the city. So far, 22 high technology industrial parks in 16 districts have borrowed experiences and resources from Zhangjiang.

The Zhangjiang Comprehensive National Science Center is a national strategy. Under the strategy, world-class science facilities will gather in Zhangjiang and promote cutting-edge research to help China rival and seek cooperation with other innovation forces across the world.

Currently, Zhangjiang is home to 14 major science facilities, including the Zhangjiang Laboratory and the Shanghai Research Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Intelligence.

“Zhangjiang Science City is where the Zhangjiang Comprehensive National Science Center, the very core of Shanghai’s development to become a global innovation hub, is implemented. The Zhangjiang National Innovation Demonstration Zone represents how innovation take place in Shanghai,” Peng said.

Qiu Wenjin, deputy director of the Shanghai Development and Reform Commission, said Shanghai is working with Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces on a plan for innovation and reform in the Yangtze River Delta region.

“We hope to work together to make the delta region a major global innovation birthplace by sharing resources, making scientific breakthroughs and turning brilliant ideas into good products, among other plans,” he said.