See the Bund Conference again

On the banks of the Huangpu River, another technology festival has kicked off in Shanghai.

On September 7-9, 2023, the 2023 INCLUTION · Bund Conference was held at the Huangpu World Expo Park in Shanghai. The achievements of the first "Technology makes finance more inclusive" are still vividly remembered. This year, the Bund Conference, which shouted the slogan "Technology creates a sustainable future", will focus more on technology and culture, striving to create a new business card for Shanghai's financial center and science and technology innovation center.

Over the past three years, Shanghai has been continuously narrowing the gap with the world's top financial centers, New York and London, driven by inclusive technology. In addition, the attention and exploration of technologies such as artificial intelligence and Web3.0 have also enabled Shanghai to move from financial technology to broader cutting-edge technological fields.

Configure the entire process of the innovation chain

There is a popular saying in the science and technology innovation circle: "In China, only Shanghai is the city that can build airplanes, cars, rockets, and large cruise ships."

Last year, the domestically produced C919 aircraft obtained a model qualification certificate, marking China's ability to independently develop world-class large passenger aircraft. This year, two domestically produced C919 aircraft have been put into commercial flight.

The domestically produced large cruise ship "Aida Modu" developed by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipyard has recently completed all the test projects for its first sea voyage. Soon, we will be able to set sail from Shanghai aboard the domestically produced large cruise ship.

In August, with the successful launch of the Fengyun-3 06 satellite by the Long March 4 series of carrier rockets, Shanghai's "Golden Rocket" also set a record for 100 rounds. This cannot be separated from the credit of Shanghai Aerospace Technology Research Institute.

The automotive industry is not to mention. Data shows that from January to June this year, the production of new energy vehicles in Shanghai reached 611500 units, a year-on-year increase of 65.7%, and Shanghai regained the title of "the first city of new energy vehicles".

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What are the advantages of Shanghai in striving to become an international first-class science and technology innovation center? There is actually a consensus in the industry that compared to international and domestic innovation centers or cities, the prominent feature of Shanghai Innovation Center construction is that the city has a more comprehensive innovation element, and its comprehensiveness and comprehensive supporting capacity provide the foundation for further development of innovation level. Despite uneven development levels, Shanghai has almost all the functions on the innovation chain, including research and development, manufacturing, sales, application, and global factor configuration capabilities.

In addition, the manufacturing base in the Yangtze River Delta, on which Shanghai relies, has a strong foundation in scientific and technological research and industrial technology capabilities. The region has developed high-end service industries, commercial circulation industries, as well as a relatively complete technology market and service environment. After the establishment of the free trade zone, the establishment of institutional advantages, demonstration effects, and spillover effects are obvious, providing a good foundation and opportunity for Shanghai to build a global science and technology innovation center.

This is also why industries with long and comprehensive industrial chains such as commercial airliners, cruise ships, aviation aircraft, and new energy vehicles have taken root and sprouted in Shanghai, and ultimately can smoothly enter the market, and even participate in international competition by going abroad.

Especially in the past decade, the Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Center has comprehensively enhanced its innovation resource concentration, technological achievements influence, emerging industry leadership, innovation environment attractiveness, and regional radiation belt driving force.

The following set of data better illustrates the problem: Shanghai has granted 163400 patents and 33700 invention patents. Calculated based on a permanent population of nearly 25 million, on average, every 10000 people hold nearly 80 invention patents. Shanghai scientists account for 32% of the total number of papers published in top international academic journals such as Nature, Science, and Cell. There are 178 academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering in Shanghai, and 64 disciplines from 15 universities have been selected for the "Double First Class" list of national universities.

The achievements of Shanghai in the construction of science and technology innovation centers can also be explored at this year's Bund Conference. The 8000 square meter technology exhibition area encompasses Shanghai's innovative breakthroughs and industrial practices in cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and privacy computing.

For example, Fudan University will showcase its independently developed "Advanced 6G Photon Broadband Terahertz Communication System" at the Bund Conference, which mainly includes the development of photon terahertz sources, baseband chips, advanced terahertz devices, and real-time broadband communication. It can serve as the core component of future 6G mobile communication systems, seamlessly integrating into existing optical wireless communication architectures, and achieving high-speed broadband access networks. In addition, the AI for Science intelligent computing cluster "Qiewen" for interdisciplinary integration and innovation, and the dedicated high-performance computing cluster "Jinsi" for high-precision research are built through Alibaba Cloud's heterogeneous fusion computing power technology, hierarchical storage technology, and AI big data integration technology. At present, the experimental equipment in the four campuses of Fudan University can be connected at high speed, achieving unified management of computing power and scheduling of computing tasks, meeting the scientific intelligence research and application needs in different scenarios

The display of these cutting-edge technologies not only supports the Bund Conference to become a feast in the technology industry, but also a focus of the Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Center.

Selecting Top Global Talents

"Innovation and entrepreneurship, technological innovation ultimately boils down to talent." In the first half of this year, at the 4th Shanghai Innovation and Entrepreneurship Youth 50 Person Forum, Luo Dajin, Director of the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission, emphasized the key to the construction of science and technology innovation centers.

As early as 2016, Shanghai issued the Implementation Opinions on Further Deepening the Reform of the Talent Development System and Mechanism, Accelerating the Construction of Science and Technology Innovation Centers with Global Influence. Among them, 30 opinions provided improvement and innovation for overseas high-level talent introduction, talent management, innovation and entrepreneurship incentives, environmental management, and other issues.

In the following years, major cities in China have launched a wave of "talent grabbing", and Shanghai's talent gathering effect in the field of science and technology innovation is still very impressive. As of 2021, there are 178 academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering in Shanghai, ranking second in the country in terms of quantity. The "local team" training program for leading talents has accumulated 1617 people. The number of foreigners working in Shanghai is 215000, accounting for 23.7% of the country. About 50000 work permits for foreign high-end talents have been issued, and the number and quality of foreign talents introduced rank first in the country. It has been ranked as the "most attractive Chinese city in the eyes of foreign talents" for 8 consecutive years.

As a global city, Shanghai also has the ability to allocate a global talent pool, and strong alliances often create more innovative sparks.

Although there are not many local technology enterprises in Shanghai, there are a large number of technology innovation enterprises represented by multinational corporations, especially the R&D headquarters of multinational corporations. Moreover, local R&D institutions and R&D departments of multinational corporations have strong interaction capabilities with international capital, talent, and market. As of now, there are a total of 848 regional headquarters of multinational companies settled in Shanghai, and 512 foreign-funded research and development centers, with a constantly increasing number and improving capabilities.

"Shanghai's talent advantage is very competitive nationwide, even if we look at the world, we can still rank high. Moreover, Shanghai has a wide range of scientific research talents in various fields, even in some obscure majors and fields, there are also experts." In the process of communication with enterprises, many R&D department heads frequently praise Shanghai. It is widely believed in the industry that talent is a unique advantageous resource for Shanghai nationwide, and Shanghai actually plays a role as a global R&D network node based on the R&D center base of multinational corporations.

As a new technology event in Shanghai, the Bund Conference is also a platform for talent exchange and intellectual collision.

It is reported that the main forum of the Bund Conference has announced some important guests, including Ding Kuiling, President of Shanghai Jiaotong University, Academician of the CAS Member, Zhang Renhe, Vice President of Fudan University, Academician of the CAS Member, He Jifeng, Academician of the CAS Member, Michael Jordan, Academician of the American Academy of Engineering, the Third Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Razan Mubarak, President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and other leading figures in the scientific and technological circles and the sustainable development community.

At the same time, the technology job fair will also become one of the highlights of this year's Bund Conference. The job fair will unite about 40 enterprises, provide more than 1000 social and school recruitment positions, gather enterprises in science and technology, Internet, finance and other industries, and carry out in-depth exchanges around industry exchanges and talent employment.

"Shanghai will select top talents globally based on key areas." The relevant departments in Shanghai stated that they will build new research and development institutions around talent layout, provide special, stable, and predictable special support mechanisms, and create higher quality and more valuable research.

Brave exploration of "unmanned areas" in science and technology innovation

As is well known, science and technology innovation centers cannot do without the supporting construction of science and technology innovation systems. For a long time, Silicon Valley has been the "white moonlight" in the hearts of technology entrepreneurs, and the "Stanford Silicon Valley" model has also been revered as a model.

Palo Alto, located in the southwest of Silicon Valley, used to be a farm of only 500 square kilometers, but now gathers over a million top engineers from around the world, giving birth to nearly a hundred Nobel laureates. Adjacent to Stanford University, it is the earliest and most successful experimental field of the industry academia research model: scientists, angel investors, and VC institutions are closely connected, the industry academia organization is flat, emphasizes creativity, and is summarized as the "Stanford Silicon Valley" model, even giving birth to an unwritten rule - "If you want to become a top professor in a university, at least you must have founded a company.".

It may not seem new now, but as early as 20 years ago, Shanghai began to learn from Silicon Valley, relying on the advantages of university innovation strategies, and evolving the "Stanford Silicon Valley" model into the "Fudan/Tongji Yangpu" model. Nowadays, China Textile Machinery Factory has been transformed into an innovation park called Changyang Chuanggu, attracting more than 300 entrepreneurial enterprises and nearly ten unicorn enterprises to settle down. The large innovation and intelligence demonstration zone built around universities has introduced well-known enterprises such as IBM and Bilibili, and incubated and cultivated industry leaders such as Youkede and Shengwang.

There is Yangpu in the north and Minhang in the south. The Minhang "Big Zero Bay" Science and Technology Innovation Function Strategy Source Area is also gaining momentum, with over 3000 hard technology enterprises closely cooperating with Shanghai Jiao Tong University nearby. In Zhangjiang High tech, located to the east, the famous "895 Incubator" exhibition hall is full of achievements from enterprises such as chips, medical devices, underwater robots, and wearable devices. This is the largest carrier for individual incubation within Zhangjiang Science City, incubating over 1000 science and technology innovation enterprises.

"The layout and construction of science and technology innovation clusters around high-level universities have unique advantages. In addition to the already radiating Zhangjiang Pudong and the accelerating construction of the Qingpu Huawei base, Shanghai is building four science and technology innovation clusters in the" southeast, northwest ". Xu Feng, Secretary of the Shanghai Science and Technology Work Party Committee, has clearly stated that Shanghai should focus on core key areas, amplify spillover effects, and shape new landmarks in science and technology innovation and industry.".

According to data from the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, after more than 30 years of vigorous development, there are over 500 innovation and entrepreneurship carriers in Shanghai, and one-third of the listed companies on the Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Board benefit from the cultivation of incubators. Shanghai has built a full lifecycle support system for technology enterprises, from incubation to development and growth, to create a favorable innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Basic research and cutting-edge technology may be the breakthrough points on the path of Shanghai's scientific and technological innovation. In recent years, Shanghai has piloted the establishment of "Basic Research Special Zones" in some universities and research institutes with outstanding advantages in basic research. By exploring long-term and stable funding methods, and granting "Basic Research Special Zones" full research autonomy, the "district chief" responsibility system has been implemented to support institutions in freely selecting topics, organizing and using funds, and fully leveraging the enthusiasm and initiative of some universities and research institutes with outstanding advantages in the city.

Professor Xu Fan, born in 1985, from the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Fudan University, has discovered a research project called "Stability and Intelligent Control of Aerospace Light Sail Thin Film Structures". The project was selected as one of the first projects in the "Basic Research Special Zone" of Fudan University and received a funding of 2 million yuan. His research findings were published in the Physics Review Letters and reported in the "Research Highlights" section of the journal Nature. Xu Fan sighed and said, "I believe that basic research has a 'useless use'. Although its practicality may not be as good as applied research, it can become the foundation for many technological inventions."

At the same time, the "14th Five Year Plan" for the construction of a globally influential science and technology innovation center in Shanghai also clearly focuses on strategic areas such as neuroscience and neuromorphic intelligence, quantum technology, transformative materials, and life regulation, as well as international cutting-edge fields, cultivating international "leaders" in several scientific research fields and "contributors" to core technologies for future industrial transformation.

In the "no man's land" of global technological innovation, Shanghai is striving to catch up and create the "Pujiang speed" that belongs to China.

The humanistic sentiment of hard technology

"Technology is not cold. Under the seemingly cold 'hard shell', what moves people the most is a sense of humanistic warmth." The organizing committee of the Bund Conference emphasized the positioning of technology and culture at the press conference. In fact, Shanghai not only considers the speed of technological development, but also lays out in advance how technology can better interact with society, especially in terms of institutional construction and ethical thinking in science and technology. It has taken the lead in the world.

Recently, news about rare characters has been frequently trending. People with rare characters in their names often encounter various difficulties in the digital age, such as being unable to type their name, being unable to open a bank account for payment, having to handwrite their driver's license, and being unable to register and purchase tickets with their real name. Data shows that there are over 60 million people in China who suffer from such difficulties.

Ant Group's self graduate student's secret character solution has been applied to Alipay to solve the problem that users with secret characters cannot pass real name authentication and enjoy complete digital services due to incorrect name entry. At present, Ant Group has launched the "Chinese Character Pickup Plan" to provide free and accessible solutions for rare characters to the whole society, helping public service institutions or commercial institutions in need of rare character transformation to carry out transformation at lower costs, and also helping more service providers to serve the upstream and downstream of the industry. At the exhibition area of the Bund Conference, visitors can experience the operation of the rare character keyboard.

As one of the cities with the highest degree of aging in the country, Shanghai has been exploring the application of technology to adapt to aging for a long time.

At the Bund Conference venue, visitors can also wear elderly "mimetic clothing" and immerse themselves in simulating the physiological state of the elderly. Through the wearing of body restraints and the design of instructions and space, from the perspective of the elderly, they can experience movements such as walking, reading newspapers, dressing and undressing, and taking steps. Feeling the aging physical state, understanding the actual living conditions of the elderly, resonating with their psychological loneliness and anxiety, triggering people's thinking about their elders and their own elderly care, increasing attention to the elderly population, and attracting more people to understand, familiarize themselves with, and participate in elderly care.

Shanghai Bosten Network Technology Co., Ltd. also utilizes a digital full process solution to develop a brain health assessment and cognitive training program for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease, providing professional brain health assessment and cognitive training to the middle-aged and elderly population. Through various interesting game forms, it exercises the brain of the elderly and helps them maintain their mental youthfulness at all times.

The large-scale model that caught fire this year not only improves production efficiency, but also brings convenience to people with disabilities. Shanghai's local AI company Daguan Data has independently developed the domestically produced "Caozhi Big Model" and is deeply involved in the field of intelligent long texts. Now, relying on its technological advantages in this area, Daguan and its partners have teamed up to build China's first Chinese Braille digital platform targeting 17 million visually impaired people nationwide. This platform integrates life, learning, and work, providing Braille machine translation and Braille digital resource services for visually impaired individuals. Currently, the platform has a daily online traffic of over 3000 people.

It is reported that Shanghai is focusing on building an accessible intelligent society through the construction of various accessible facilities, optimizing the minority protection system, enriching the cultural life of minority groups, and other intelligent technologies and cultural services. Next, Shanghai will gather various forces to promote the formation of an innovative ecosystem for the application of artificial intelligence in an accessible intelligent society. Efforts will be made to make artificial intelligence more closely aligned with the actual needs and expectations of users, providing more intelligent, efficient, and personalized services, and promoting social inclusion and sustainable development.

Whether it is talent gathering or industrial allocation, the next few years will be a crucial period for the comprehensive upgrading of the functions of Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Center.

The Bund, a name that witnesses the glory and glory of Shanghai, will also continue to write an innovative story on a new journey.