Last year, scientists in Shanghai published 158 papers in three major international top journals, accounting for 30% of the country’s total.
On the afternoon of January 16th, the Shanghai Municipal Government held a press conference on economic topics to introduce the state of Shanghai’s economic development and answer questions from reporters. Guo Jun, Deputy Secretary-General of the Municipal Government and Director of the Shanghai Development and Reform Commission, Zhou Xiaoquan, Executive Deputy Director of the Financial Services Office of the Municipal Party Committee, Zhang Ying, Director of the Municipal Economic and Information Technology Commission, Zhu Min, Director of the Municipal Commerce Commission, Luo Dajin, Director of the Municipal Science and Technology Commission, and Yu Fulin, Director of the Municipal Transportation Commission, were present at the conference.
Luo Dajin introduced that 2024 is the 10th anniversary of Shanghai’s acceleration towards becoming a globally influential scientific and technological innovation center, and also the inaugural year for Shanghai’s international scientific and technological innovation center to move towards a new journey. Under the strong leadership of the municipal party committee and government, Shanghai’s scientific and technological innovation work has been solidly advanced, achieving new progress and breakthroughs. It is expected that the proportion of expenditure on research and development in the whole society will reach around 4.4% of GDP, with the proportion of investment in basic research accounting for about 11% of total expenditure on research and development. The number of high-tech enterprises with valid periods will exceed 25,000, with a year-on-year growth of 7.2% in technology contract turnover reaching 520 billion yuan. The revenue of the technology service industry is expected to increase by 9.2%. Both the “first mile” of basic research and the “last mile” of technological achievement transformation have started to accelerate. In the Global Innovation Index 2024 released by WIPO, Shanghai-Suzhou cluster ranks fifth in the world.
Specifically, first, focusing on “strategy generation” and striving to enhance high-level supply. We will accelerate the construction of strategic scientific and technological forces, steadily promote the construction of national laboratories in Shanghai, and establish high-level new research and development institutions such as the Institute for Mathematical Sciences and Cross-Disciplinary Studies, as well as the Innovation Center for Synthetic Biology. We will also accelerate the construction of “basic research advance areas” and establish a talent selection mechanism based on topics to support high-risk and high-value research. Shanghai scientists have published 158 papers in three top international academic journals: Cell, Nature, and Science, accounting for 30% of China’s total. We will make every effort to promote the breakthrough of key core technologies and achieve a series of important results. We will focus on frontier fields such as blockchain, quantum computing, and 6G, strengthen forward-looking layouts, and accelerate the cultivation of future industries.
Second, focusing on the “ecology” to optimize the innovation and entrepreneurship environment. We will build a full-chain acceleration mechanism and a full-factor support system around each link of the innovation chain and throughout the whole life cycle of enterprises. We will build a number of high-quality incubators and concept validation centers, vigorously develop technology finance, establish and operate three major guiding industry funds and future industry funds with a total scale of 100 billion yuan to accelerate the transformation and industrialization of scientific and technological achievements, helping enterprises become bigger and stronger. In the first three quarters of 2024, the loan balance of science and technology enterprises under Shanghai’s jurisdiction was 1259.62 billion yuan, with an increase of 317.18 billion yuan or 33.66%. The number of listed companies on the Science and Technology Innovation Board has reached 93 with a total market value exceeding 2 trillion yuan, maintaining its top position in China. According to Hurun Report rankings, Shanghai added 10 new unicorn companies in 2024 with a total number reaching 65, ranking second in China; meanwhile Shanghai also boasted more gazelle enterprises than San Francisco with a total number reaching 67, ranking first in the world. We will continue to deepen the construction of the Yangtze River Delta Scientific and Technological Innovation Community to further explore new paths of international cooperation and accelerate the construction of an open innovation network.
Thirdly, focusing on “reform” to improve the efficiency of innovation system. We will reform and optimize project organization implementation mechanisms by exploring team manager teams, implementing milestone-based process management and dynamic optimization adjustment mechanisms, expanding “Challenge Program” application scope to support disruptive technological innovations by implementing screening mechanisms such as “competition selection” and “investment instead of evaluation”. We will deepen reforms in “delegating management rights while regulating service provision” in scientific research funds to expand pilot projects under a “package system” covering all soft science planning projects. The “Regulations on Science and Technology Progress in Shanghai” will be revised to provide legal guarantees for scientific and technological