Shanghai Photo:VCG

 
Shanghai on Tuesday awarded innovation certificates to a batch of enterprises that are operating in key scientific research areas including integrated circuits, biomedicine and artificial intelligence, China Media Group reported on Tuesday.  

The companies have all invested in research and development, and have produced globally pioneering products, said the report.  
 
Twenty-two of the companies have been listed in domestic and overseas stock markets, and all of them have branches in Shanghai.  

In 2022, the added value of Shanghai’s strategic emerging industries hit 1.06 trillion yuan, up 8.6 percent year-on-year, accounting for 23.8 percent of the municipality’s annual GDP.  

The scale of the integrated circuit industry in Shanghai accounts for more than a quarter of the nationwide total. The number of Shanghai Stock Exchange STAR market-listed biomedicine companies accounts for a quarter of the country's total. 

Shanghai has over 1,100 companies in the AI industry, said the report.  

Shanghai is a crucial hub for sci-tech innovation in China. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization's latest Global Innovation Index released in September, the Shanghai-Suzhou sci-tech cluster moved up one place to enter the top 5 on the list of top 100 sci-tech clusters. Two other Chinese sci-tech clusters – Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou and Beijing – made the top 5. 

Shanghai Party chief Chen Jining on Tuesday met with visiting Microsoft President Brad Smith, and welcomed Microsoft to bring more digital technology and innovative business to Shanghai to promote AI transformation and help more industries. Chen also emphasized the need for high-quality opening-up and to improve the business climate for foreign investment. 

Smith noted Shanghai’s improving business environment, and pledged to further expand investment in China and cooperation with local partners, in a bid to accelerate industry transformation and green development.

Global Times