Pudong New Area set to grow into major tech innovation hub

Continued efforts will be made to build Shanghai's Pudong New Area into a major hub for technology innovation in the near future, a local official said on Wednesday.

Xu Xin, director of the Pudong Science Technology and Economy Commission, said Pudong will mainly focus on boosting the development of key industries, such as integrated circuits, smart manufacturing and new energy vehicles.

Citing the newly-released guideline to build Pudong into a pioneer of socialist modernization, Xu said Pudong is set to lead innovation in core industries and fields, becoming a key driver for sharpening China's key competitive edge in high-tech sectors.

In the next step, Pudong will make a big push to promote the research and development of key fields, such as information technology, material science, space technology and life sciences, optimize the cultivation mechanism for various scientific and technological innovation entities, boost innovation and entrepreneurship in the area and promote global cooperation and exchanges in terms of technological innovation.

According to Xu, Pudong will further strengthen the industrial chain and build an advanced manufacturing industrial cluster featuring six major industries, such as chipmaking, AI and big data. More efforts will also be made to boost emerging industries, such as new materials, and develop a group of leading high-tech enterprises.

The new guideline, recently released by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, is set to give full play to Pudong's leading role in promoting high-level reform and opening-up and building it into an innovation hub with global influence.

The document requires speeding up research and development of key technologies, such as integrated circuits, life sciences and artificial intelligence, and accelerate the construction of Zhangjiang Comprehensive National Science Center and national laboratories.

Under the new document, Pudong will build a group of national scientific and technological innovation centers, such as national engineering research centers, national technological innovation centers and national clinical medical research centers, and promote the establishment of smart vehicle R&D and application innovation platforms.