Why the New Track Flows to the Old House on the Small Road under the wutong Tree | Survey of the Historic and Cultural Area in Central Shanghai ② Culture | History | Central Shanghai
Editor's note: "wutong District" is the nickname of netizens for the historical and cultural area in the center of Shanghai center. It has the largest historical and cultural area in the central city of Shanghai - Hengfu Historical and Cultural Area, as well as Yuyuan Road, Xinhua Road, Nanjing West Road and other historical and cultural areas, with many old western-style houses and "online stores". This area involves several central urban areas - Xuhui, Jing'an, Huangpu, and Changning. In recent years, beneficial explorations have been made in the industrial agglomeration, scientific and technological innovation, people's livelihood improvement, landscape protection, urban renewal, and other aspects of Shanghai's historical districts. What is the unique texture of "wutong District", and how to make this area better and stronger, so as to make it a shining "card" in the center of Shanghai? Starting today, our newspaper will launch a series of investigation reports——
Last November, Changning District released a plan to build a "Shanghai Silicon Lane" science and technology innovation block centered around Yuyuan Road, Wuyi Road, and Dingxi Road in this century old block. When people wonder why this old neighborhood with a strong lifestyle and commercial atmosphere suddenly targets science and technology innovation as a new driving force, the answer comes from the "Digital Changning" strategy in 2001 and the foundation of science and technology innovation enterprises accumulated around Zhongshan Park for more than 20 years.
Coincidentally, at the beginning of this year, Xuhui District proposed to build "Hengfu Financial Street" in Hengfu District with historical and cultural features. People were curious: old western-style houses and wutong trees are unique business travel and cultural resources, but whether the development of financial industry has a deep foundation? Xuhui Binjiang already has a under construction West Bank Financial City. How can the "Financial Street" and "Financial City" develop in a staggered manner? In Huangpu, around the Sinan Mansion, Ruijin Hospital and other areas, more than 40 innovative biopharmaceutical enterprises have settled in, forming the industrial cornerstone of the "Guangci Sinan National Transformational Medicine Innovation Industrial Park"
The "wutong District" in Shanghai, a new micro smart valley on Dingxi Road, is often remembered as a coffee shop, an old western-style house, an "online celebrity" and other labels. However, as the core urban area of Shanghai, the major institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fudan Medical College and Shanghai Jiaotong University Medical College have accumulated a profound scientific research industry context here. The industrial carrier vacated after the transformation of state-owned land has enabled the "wutong District" to constantly emerge transformation cases of "old bottles with new wine" recently, attracting emerging industries to cluster and innovate here.
What industries are gathered in the "wutong District" of Shanghai, and why are these enterprises and institutions gathered?
The matching degree of space
Between Changle Road and Julu Road, there is an industrial park called "Quban 108 Shangyuan", which gathers multiple fashion and creative enterprises newly introduced in Jing'an District in recent years, including world-renowned brands such as Belgian Home, WWD Fashion Media in the United States, and Italian luxury brand mission. With an area of nearly 10000 square meters, it is located in the core area of "Jufuchang", making it a typical pocket park in "wutong District".
In the view of Liu Yuanyuan, the general manager of Quban, what keeps the park fully rented for three years is not the "small" space, but the "precision" of industrial positioning. During the renovation, we preserved and repaired a century old western-style house and four five story old buildings, all of which were former offices of Shanghai People's Fine Arts Publishing House, giving the park a strong cultural heritage. The intentionally restored cement and mosaic tiles during the renovation established the brand image of the park from details and made its investment positioning clearer: attracting cultural and creative enterprises such as fashion, art, and IP incubation.
Quban 108 Shangyuan is also a historical block that attracts new industries to settle in through urban renewal, as well as Yuyuan Road and Wuyi Road. Since 2014, Changning District has successively launched urban renewal on Yuyuan Road and Wuyi Road, and now these two century old roads have become "internet celebrities". It is not surprising to build a science and technology innovation block here, which is backed by the Shanghai Institute of Microsystems and Information Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which have a history of nearly a century.
"Shanghai Silicon Alley" was initiated by the Changning District Science and Technology Commission, Changning District Association for Science and Technology, two major institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, New Micro Technology Group, Chuangyi Industry, and Huayang Road Street, respectively, responsible for leading planning, technology achievement transformation and industrialization, carrier updating, and local services. In the past two years, this mechanism that is still in the exploratory stage has achieved significant results: Yuyuan Road has introduced Guanchi Technology, which is deeply rooted in the fields of digital interaction and virtual technology; Wuyi Road has introduced the industrial Internet "unicorn" black lake technology; The new Micro Smart Valley, transformed from the Paris Spring Shopping Mall on Dingxi Road, has attracted leading enterprise in the field of intelligent sensors, Sirui Technology, to settle in.
"Innovation and transformation is a complex system, and every link of 'government, industry, university, research fund, and service' needs human communication, interaction, and collision of ideas. The innovation chain, like the industrial chain, needs ecology and agglomeration." Xie Xiaoming, director of the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the Jiefang Daily Shangguan News reporter that Silicon Lane, with its rich scientific and educational resources, profound historical and cultural accumulation, and convenient transportation, has become an ideal place to incubate innovation ecology.
An important link in ecology is to attract industrial investment. Zhang Rong, President of Xijing Technology, stated that if a company can quickly evaluate its performance at different stages of scientific and technological innovation, and establish an evaluation mechanism for "Shanghai Silicon Lane" enterprises, then capital will have clearer references and be more willing to invest in technology companies in the start-up stage, helping companies transition from survival to development.
In fact, some investment institutions have been rooted in the center of Shanghai for a long time. According to the financial office of Xuhui District, there are currently about 600 various investment institutions gathered in the Xuhui block of the Hengfu Historical and Cultural District. Xuhui District is building a private equity investment fund cluster here and establishing a multi departmental collaborative working group to undertake responsibilities such as industry guidance, industrial investment, local coordination, and carrier resource allocation.
The old western-style houses in the Hengfu style area are expressed by Shu Shu
"The number of private equity funds is generally ten or twenty, matching the space capacity that the old western-style houses can provide. The privacy of the environment in 'wutong District' is consistent with the 'private placement' nature of the funds, and investors in such investment institutions are generally listed companies or high net worth customers, who prefer the unique atmosphere of 'wutong District'." Fu Binliang, deputy director of the financial office of Xuhui District, said.
The large courtyards and institutes in "wutong District" also show strong "absorption" to technology enterprises.
When Zhejiang Jinke Tom Culture, which developed the "internet famous cat" Tom Cat, established a new company in Shanghai, the preferred office location was around Ruijin Hospital. "Ruijin's medical and technological level is leading nationwide, with sub categories such as neurology and traditional Chinese medicine, which are very in line with our research and development direction and have great appeal." The person in charge of Shanghai Jinke Tom Cat Life Technology Co., Ltd. introduced that the company mainly targets non-invasive brain computer interfaces, brain function data analysis, and other fields. A new product recently promoted needs to rely on professional medical resources in the research and development stage, and after the product is launched, it also needs to be clinically applied through medical institutions.
"More and more research and development processes are becoming 'cloud based' and computerized. As long as there is no need for large scientific facilities and chemical laboratories, the central urban area can also carry the core links of enterprise research and development." Zhou Xueqiang, Chief Researcher of Shanghai Qiantan Emerging Industry Research Institute, said that the 'old urban area' in the center of Shanghai is promoting industrial innovation through urban renewal. The simultaneous development of "renewal" and "innovation" is precisely the key to the continuous flow of new tracks to the "wutong District".
Accessibility of Resources in Guangci Sinan National Transformational Medicine Innovation Industrial Park
This year is the tenth year that Liansheng Venture Capital Fund has settled on Taiyuan Road. When the company's general manager, Yu Feng, talked about the old western-style house where the company's office is located, he frankly said, "After moving in, I don't want to move anymore.".
For a private equity fund, choosing a business location should not only consider its own needs, but also the industrial level of the region it is located in. Therefore, Liansheng Venture Capital Fund, which focuses on hard technology entrepreneurship investment, chose Xuhui as one of the carrier areas of Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Center. In Yu Feng's view, in addition to matching the environment, settling in a Hengfu style area also has the characteristic of a single old western-style house that can calm people's minds. This is closely related to the industry characteristics of private equity, which require both sufficient and extensive outreach, advancement, and communication, as well as quiet and independent space for sedimentation, judgment, and thinking.
In 2016, Xijing Technology moved from Shunyuan Building on Jiangsu Road to a small park on Lixi Road. At that time, Lixi Road was just a historic small road between Yuyuan Road and Wuyi Road. Many people are unaware that an artificial intelligence enterprise with world leading technology in the field of unmanned driving in container logistics scenarios is stationed here.
Why can a small road accommodate such hardcore technology companies? In Zhang Rong's view, it is precisely the surrounding fireworks that enable enterprises to always gather their core competitiveness: talent. "We really met the talent we wanted to recruit at the coffee shop downstairs of the company, and they happened to like the atmosphere here."
Lixi Road
Xijing Technology is located at the headquarters of Lixi Road, Junshu Shushu
Zhou Xueqiang pointed out two underlying logics: technology personnel need to socialize, and many inspirations are generated by "head to head" collisions; The law of the market is "convenience creates value". In the city center, various resource elements can be quickly combined, and the accessibility of enterprises and talents is higher.
After Xingrong Information Technology Co., Ltd., an AI enterprise focusing on the Internet of Things and edge computing, moved to Changning District to work, CEO Lu Guoming found that employees did not rush away after work, but arranged leisure and social activities in the urban area. At the same time, the overall creativity of the enterprise has increased. "We have embarked on the path of artificial intelligence analysis of network metadata from a technology enterprise engaged in intelligent operation and maintenance of infrastructure, and our business scope has suddenly widened. In Lu Guoming's view, the physical space where the enterprise is located will subtly nourish the people in it.".
Huang Zhiwei, Deputy General Manager of Shanghai Chuangyi Industrial Co., Ltd., participated in the urban renewal of Yuyuan Road throughout the entire process. In recent years, he has observed a new trend of technology enterprises in "wutong District": the input is scientific innovation, and the output is cultural innovation.
The "Yujian" project located in Lane 1088, Yuyuan Road
Guanchi Technology, located in the "Foolish View" park on Lane 1088 of Yuyuan Road, is one of them. Guanchi, headquartered on Zhaohua Road, has business segments covering video content, digital interaction, virtual shooting, and online and offline art exhibitions. At the end of last year, the company established a new viewing pool technology on Yuyuan Road. This year, it collaborated with Sony to establish an XR shooting studio with optical motion capture, GPU computing, and the latest real-time rendering technology. In the opinion of the person in charge of the enterprise, the romantic wutong tree on Yuyuan Road is flanked by leading stores, flowing humanistic atmosphere and fashionable youth. Putting the "science and technology+art" section here is "the most correct choice."
The districts in Shanghai within the "wutong District" also have their own logic for industrial guidance: relying on high-quality medical resources, Huangpu District has cooperated with Ruijin Hospital to build a "no wall" Guangci Sinan National Transformation Medical Innovation Industrial Park. By reinvigorating the scattered stock carriers around Ruijin Hospital, it has found a "new home" for biomedical innovation enterprises and turned the industrial layout of the "science innovation center around hospitals" into reality; Starting from this year, Xuhui District will renovate its neighborhoods, sort out more suitable foreign housing carriers for financial institutions to settle in, gradually connect the scattered private equity institutions in the Hengfu area, and attract more high-quality invested enterprises to land, forming a "one city, one street" financial industry layout with "Hengfu Financial Street" focusing on private equity institutions and "West Bank Financial City" focusing on licensed and fintech institutions.
Cost reduction algorithm
Not long ago, "Quban 108 Shangyuan" supported Belgium Home and WWD Fashion Media to jointly hold an art exhibition on the lawn of the park. Many fashion professionals came, and other cultural and creative enterprises in the park were also invited to participate, creating more opportunities for industry exchanges and commercial cooperation. These warehouses are located in suburban areas, and cultural and creative enterprises with creative and sales departments stationed in the city center often only have one or two hundred square meters of their own office space, but they have high requirements for the quality of space for product display and event roadshows. To this end, Quban 108 Shangyuan has created a shared reception and exhibition hall with a density much higher than that of ordinary parks, which is free for use by enterprises.
"Quban 108 Shangyuan" outdoor activity
The diversified demand for space of enterprises in "wutong District" is also reflected in the rental affordability. Huang Zhiwei noticed that start-up technology companies are always sensitive to the rent in the city center. Among these companies are overseas returnees and talents, most of whom hope to work in spaces with convenient transportation, rich living conditions, moderate rent, and clean environment in the city center.
On one hand, there is still a lot of existing space for renovation in the old factory buildings and old parks in the city center, and on the other hand, there are start-up enterprises urgently seeking economically suitable office spaces to bridge the information gap. It is necessary to calculate the cost account for space renovation and the rental account for the companies introduced after renovation. The plan to upgrade the factory space originally rented at around 3 yuan in "Shanghai Silicon Alley" to a science and technology innovation office carrier with a rent of around 5 yuan through urban renewal is currently feasible, but there is also an urgent need to explore more modifiable resources.
In an interview with a reporter from the New Micro Smart Valley, which is transformed from existing buildings in the city center, both the park operator and the enterprise mentioned using forms such as tax substitution and tax linkage to alleviate the contradiction of enterprises relying on convenient resources in the city center and unable to bear high business costs in the initial stage. But business costs are not just rent. Zhou Xueqiang said that taking startups as an example, at this stage, companies especially need to deal with people, and working in the city center undoubtedly increases the convenience of contacting customers and investors. For employees, the game between rental costs and commuting time costs always exists. Therefore, what the government can do is to minimize the business costs of small and medium-sized enterprises and the living costs of employees, so that "convenience" and "rent" can be balanced as much as possible on both ends of the scale. "When a company survives and has been validated by market concepts for a period of time, it can quickly develop on its own track."
Compared with the old factory buildings and office buildings, the old western-style houses in "wutong District" are relatively clustered. But as an industrial carrier, old western-style houses are undoubtedly scarce resources. "Only by organically integrating old houses with new industries can old western-style houses maximize their industrial carrier value," said Yu Feng. The reporter learned that, taking advantage of the opportunity to build a private equity fund cluster, Xuhui is further cultivating the "circle of friends" of enterprises in the field of science and technology innovation investment, attracting more high-quality invested enterprises to settle in Shanghai and Xuhui through services.
