Located at the border of Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, the first cross provincial high-tech zone in China has been unveiled and established as an integrated demonstration zone
Today, the 2023 Yangtze River Delta Ecological Green Integration Development Demonstration Zone Developer Conference and Demonstration Zone Full Link Conference will be held in Qingpu, Shanghai. The integrated demonstration zone located in Qingpu, Shanghai, Wujiang, Jiangsu, and Jiashan, Zhejiang is the first cross provincial integrated development area in China to operate in a physical manner. The developer conference of the demonstration zone drew inspiration from the practice of world leading enterprises holding developer conferences. This year is already the fourth session, and at the conference, there were new developments in the construction of demonstration zones such as the Demonstration Zone Developer Alliance and the first cross provincial high-tech zone in China.
Forming a joint construction force
In order to mobilize market resources to participate in the construction of the demonstration zone, in August 2020, 12 market and social professional institutions including China Three Gorges Group, Huawei, Alibaba, and Fudan University were founding members to initiate the establishment of the Yangtze River Delta Ecological Green Integration Development Demonstration Zone Developer Alliance. During this period, there have been several expansions, with 13 new members joining the alliance the day before the developer conference, resulting in a total of 64 member units in the alliance. At today's conference, representatives from members of the Developer Alliance, including Three Gorges Group, Alibaba, Huawei, and Fudan University, launched the Developer Alliance initiative. All parties will gather the strength of the alliance to jointly promote technological and institutional innovation in depth. Three Gorges Group has been elected as the rotating executive unit of the new Developer Alliance.
At the meeting, the Yangtze River Delta Ecological Green Integration Development Demonstration Zone was unveiled and established as a cross provincial high-tech industrial development zone. As the first cross provincial high-tech industry development zone in China, the demonstration zone covers an area of 19.54 square kilometers and relies on the rich scientific and technological innovation resources and the development foundation of high-tech industries in the Yangtze River Delta region. It focuses on developing three strategic emerging industries: digital industry, intelligent manufacturing, and green new materials, as well as two characteristic industries: headquarters economy and green scientific and technological innovation services. It is expected that by 2025, the system and mechanism of cross provincial high-tech zones will be more complete, and a new park with cross regional integration of the innovation chain and industrial chain in the growth triangle will be established.
At the meeting, Qingpu, Wujiang, and Jiashan districts and counties in the demonstration zone released four high-quality development lists, including government needs, enterprise cooperation, enterprise capabilities, and demand for mid to high end talents. A total of 340 cooperation projects and 298 high-quality positions were launched. Among them, the government demand released this time focuses on three aspects: industrial development and innovation cluster building, ecological environment and infrastructure construction, digital governance and improvement of living quality. For example, the Xicen Science and Technology Innovation Center and other demand releases aim to connect with high-quality resources in the market and accelerate construction. In addition, three major cross regional cooperation projects and nine key industrial projects with a total investment of approximately 13.7 billion yuan have been signed, among which the major cooperation projects are the Water Town Living Room Municipal Infrastructure Integration High quality Construction Cooperation Agreement, the Joint Construction Vehicle Road Collaborative Demonstration Zone Cooperation Agreement, and the Quality Certification Assistance Demonstration Zone High quality Integrated Development Cooperation Agreement.
Strengthening the role of finance in regional coordination
The keynote speech segment of this year's developer conference was full of work.
"It is possible to establish a 'super Temasek fund' jointly funded by three provinces and one city in the Yangtze River Delta." Professor Zheng Yongnian from the Chinese University of Hong Kong suggested that he further explained that because local governments are currently working on industry investment funds and venture capital funds, which are not only "internal competition" but also unable to form division of labor and coordination. The Yangtze River Delta needs to strengthen the role of finance in regional coordination.
Zheng Yongnian believes that the Yangtze River Delta has the conditions to become a super regional embedded world-class economic platform in China, focusing on building a "regional embedded world-class economic platform". Specifically, regional embedded world-class economic platforms, such as San Francisco and the Tokyo Bay Area, attract high-quality capital, technology, and high-end talent from around the world every year. He casually reported a set of data: the foreign population in the San Francisco Bay Area remained at 30%, and Silicon Valley reached 60%. More than two-thirds of the unicorn companies in Silicon Valley are owned by the first or second generation of immigrants, so the Yangtze River Delta needs to build a huge world-class economic platform through integration. In addition, he also put forward some specific suggestions for the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, such as building a cross regional coordination system in the Yangtze River Delta. "Integration should be implemented between different administrative systems, and cross regional coordination is key." Both Tokyo Bay and San Francisco have coordination agencies for government, enterprises, and social organizations. Currently, the Yangtze River Delta has relevant foundations, and more coordination agencies need to be built in the future.
China International Capital Corporation (CICC) is a founding member unit of the Developer Alliance. Huang Chaohui, CEO of CICC, stated in a keynote speech that currently, CICC Capital has established a 5.5 billion yuan Yangtze River Delta Science and Technology Innovation Fund in Shanghai, and has set up over 90 parent funds, direct investment funds, industrial funds, and regional special account funds in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui, with a total scale of over 130 billion yuan. Huang Chaohui suggested that a "Yangtze River Delta Government Joint Science and Technology Innovation Fund" could be established to serve the national strategy of integrating the Yangtze River Delta region, promote further optimization of the science and technology innovation ecosystem in the Yangtze River Delta region, and attract more social capital to participate in scientific and technological innovation, helping to improve the science and technology innovation in the Yangtze River Delta.