Private entrepreneurs form Pudong think tank

A think tank was established by private entrepreneurs on Thursday to increase the involvement of privately owned businesses in the development of the Pudong New Area.

It comprises executives from Pudong’s core industries of chip-making, innovative medicine, modern agriculture, future cars and smart manufacturing.

Members include Wang Junjin, chairman of air carrier Juneyao, Chang Zhaohua, president of medical device maker MicroPort, and Liang Changlin, founder of grocery e-commerce platform Dingdong Maicai.

They will highlight the obstructions to their development ambitions and offer suggestions for Pudong’s development in the new five-year development period, according to the Pudong Federation of Industry and Commerce.

Gu Wenjun, chief analyst with research form ICWise, told Thursday’s meeting that Pudong had great potential to make breakthroughs in the integrated circuits sector.

“Shanghai makes up 20 percent of the industrial scale in the Chinese mainland, and Pudong makes up 70 percent of Shanghai. So, Pudong is the most competitive place for integrated circuit industry development,” he said.

He called for stronger government support to help companies break technology bottlenecks, ensures supply chains and improve self-reliance of technologies.

Liu Yawen, vice president of Internet giant Baidu, said the company considered Pudong as a development highland of artificial intelligence in its innovative landscape.

“Baidu’s Shanghai R&D Center in Pudong’s Zhangjiang now hosts about 2,100 senior engineers and developers, becoming one of the most important innovation centers of Pudong,” she said.

“Last year, we landed a new AI center in Zhangjiang hoping to empower industries to get upgraded. Next, we are considering to put more AI businesses in Zhangjiang.”

Juneyao’s Wang suggested Pudong release government documents designed to support private businesses.

Juneyao Group moved to Pudong in 1999. Its Juneyao Airlines started operation in September 2006, having grown to become one of the leading privately owned carriers in the Chinese mainland.

“We started three years ago to develop our own flight simulator. To date, it has entered the industry chain of domestically developed planes, and it was put into use by Juneyao Airlines,” Wang said. “Next, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Sichuan Airlines will also use it. And we hope to make it listed on the STAR Market soon.”

In Pudong, privately owned enterprises account for more than 80 percent of the total, including unicorns and leading players in the Internet, artificial intelligence and biological medicine sectors.

By the end of October last year, 16 of the 189 companies listed on the STAR Market were from Pudong, with 12 of them privately owned.