Over 6,000 tech firms participate in startup competition

A top Shanghai startup competition has raised its curtain.

The 2023 "Startup in Shanghai" International Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition began on Thursday with the participation of 6,552 small and medium-sized tech firms.

They will receive professional training, gain access to various resources, and enjoy additional services over the next few months. They will also compete for subsidies of up to 400,000 yuan (US$58,000) as well as spots in the national finals.

Over the past 11 years, the competition has served as a tech startup incubator, producing 94 listed companies, 40 of which were on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's sci-tech innovation board, commonly known as the STAR Market.

Shanghai is a driving force behind China's transformation into an innovation powerhouse.

In 2022, Shanghai's R&D spending was reportedly 4.2 percent of the city's GDP, far exceeding the national level of 2.55 percent.

Meanwhile, 107,000 tech firms were established in the city, accounting for 28.9 percent of the total number of new firms. Every day, nearly 294 tech firms are established in the city.

Furthermore, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization's innovation index, Shanghai ranked eighth among the top 100 innovation clusters in the world in 2021, up 11 places from 2017, while the Shanghai-Suzhou cluster ranked sixth in 2022.

In the Nature Index 2022 Science Cities, Shanghai rose to third place from fifth place in 2020, followed by the Boston metropolitan area and the San Francisco Bay Area.