Shanghai unveils new steps to support multinational companies' R&D centers

Shanghai released a set of 26 new measures on Thursday to further enhance the capacity of multinational companies' research and development centers in the city, aiming to better attract resources from around the world and facilitate industrial advancement.

The municipal government will increase its support for MNCs' participation in basic research conducted in the city. Foreign companies' R&D centers will be more deeply involved in the government-led research projects. Local universities and research institutes will be encouraged to forge closer ties with Shanghai-based MNCs so that the former can transform their research results into products more efficiently, according to the new measures.

Foreign manufacturing companies will be guided to build high-level research platforms for Shanghai's 10 key industrial chains, such as integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, and high-end equipment. MNCs will also be encouraged to increase their investment in emerging sectors such as smart devices, embodied intelligence, and bio-manufacturing, among others.

Multinational companies will be further encouraged in the local ownership, operation, and commercialization of their intellectual property achievements. The foreign-invested R&D centers will be encouraged to conduct services outsourcing businesses.

The new measures also aim to facilitate the smoother flow of talents, goods clearance, and data.

Qualified overseas talents will be able to obtain a residence permit with a maximum validity of 10 years. A green channel will be opened for the cross-border flow of identified important data. Supportive measures have been introduced to address issues of much concern to MNCs' R&D centers, including the evaluation of research supplies at non-transaction prices, as well as extending the temporary stay period for goods entering and exiting China.