What are the shortcomings of the Yangtze River Delta that need to be addressed?, Building a Science and Technology Innovation Community Innovation | Integration | Technology
Chen Jining, Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, pointed out at the 2023 Developer Conference of the Yangtze River Delta Ecological Green Integration Development Demonstration Zone that the integration demonstration zone should strive to become a large "innovation field" and incubator, continuously exert efforts in integrated institutional innovation, technological innovation, and collaborative innovation among various entities, focus on building a platform for incubating new technologies, new products, and new models, and be the first mover and breakthrough in the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta.
The Yangtze River Delta is still in the early stage of integrated development of scientific and technological innovation
From the perspective of the practical effect of the integration of scientific and technological innovation in the Yangtze River Delta, according to the "Yangtze River Delta Regional Collaborative Innovation Index 2022" jointly released by Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui provinces and cities, the total index of regional collaborative innovation in the Yangtze River Delta reached 247.11 in 2021, an increase of 20.06 compared to the previous year and nearly 1.5 times compared to the base period of 2011. Among the five primary indicators, three primary indicators, including achievement sharing, resource sharing, and innovation cooperation, have shown significant growth. The corresponding secondary indicators, such as R&D investment intensity, number of collaborative invention patents, and number of cross regional patent transfers, have reached or exceeded the development goals of 2025 in the Yangtze River Delta Science and Technology Innovation Community Construction and Development Plan, indicating that the level of scientific and technological innovation integration in the Yangtze River Delta has been significantly improved, and the construction of the Yangtze River Delta Science and Technology Innovation Community has achieved significant results.
At the same time, we also need to recognize the shortcomings of the integrated development of science and technology innovation in the Yangtze River Delta. The slow growth of the two primary indicators, industrial linkage and environmental support, indicates that the Yangtze River Delta is still in the early stage of integrated development of science and technology innovation, that is, the cross regional scientific research cooperation stage. The progress of industrial integration, which is a symbol of the level of scientific and technological innovation integration, is slow, the industrial clusters for cross regional collaborative innovation are not yet mature, the supporting environment for the integrated development of science and technology innovation is still not perfect, and the institutional mechanisms for serving the construction of the Yangtze River Delta Science and Technology Innovation Community are still not sound.
Inspiration from the Integrated Development of Major Science and Technology Innovation Centers in the World
By sorting out the experience of integrated development of major technological innovation centers in the world, many beneficial experiences can be discovered, providing reference for optimizing the development path of technological innovation integration in the Yangtze River Delta.
Firstly, regional integration is the foundation of technological innovation integration.
The practical experience of global science and technology innovation centers shows that today's science and technology innovation activities have already broken through the geographical boundaries of individual cities, presenting significant characteristics of regional innovation integration. With the advancement of regional integration, the barriers to the cross regional flow of scientific and technological innovation elements are gradually eliminated, and scientific and technological innovation resources are optimized and allocated on a larger scale, resulting in a significant improvement in the efficiency of scientific and technological innovation. This has become a consensus for the integrated development of world scientific and technological innovation centers. Therefore, regional integration is the foundation of scientific and technological innovation integration. Only when regional integration develops to a certain stage and eliminates or weakens barriers to cross regional flow of factors can it promote scientific and technological innovation integration. At the same time, the integration of scientific and technological innovation is an important driving force for the development of regional integration. World major scientific and technological innovation centers such as San Francisco and Tokyo have achieved higher quality regional integration through cross regional development of scientific and technological innovation.
Secondly, industrial integration is the foundation of technological innovation integration.
Compared with cross regional scientific research cooperation such as achievement sharing and resource sharing, industrial integration is the ultimate goal of scientific and technological innovation integration. Industrial integration refers to the integrated layout of scientific and technological innovation activities throughout the entire life cycle of scientific research, research and development, mass production, and market. Various parties in the region combine their own advantages to form complementary industrial clusters. Through the interaction of products, knowledge, technology, and other elements within the cluster, the deep integration of the industrial chain and innovation chain is promoted. Taking the New York Bay Area as an example, the division of labor among the core cities in the region is clear. New York is a financial and trade center, Boston focuses on developing high-tech industry education, Philadelphia is positioned as a heavily industrialized port transportation, and Washington is a political and financial center. The manufacturing and port industries, finance and insurance, biopharmaceuticals, and nanotechnology in each core city have effectively leveraged the synergies between the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain; The deep integration of innovation chains is formed between cities through the linkage of technological innovation elements such as capital, technology, and talent. This cross regional, diverse, and complementary industrial structure greatly enhances the level of industrial integration in the New York Bay Area, becoming an important foundation for its technological innovation integration.
Thirdly, the Science and Technology Innovation Corridor is an effective carrier for the integration of scientific and technological innovation.
The California 101 Highway, Boston 128 Highway, and the UK M4 Highway were originally just ordinary transportation infrastructure, but due to these transportation arteries connecting multiple science and technology innovation node cities, coupled with the spatial agglomeration and geographical stickiness of science and technology resources themselves, more and more innovative elements such as talent, information, technology, and capital are flowing, allocating, and gathering along the highways, forming a key area for innovative development with emerging industry clusters, high-end talent resources gathering, and highly concentrated science and technology innovation elements, namely the Science and Technology Innovation Corridor. This new form of technological innovation organization not only has significant advantages in allocating global scientific and technological resources, promoting cutting-edge technology and business models, but also becomes an important carrier for promoting regional innovation integration with its "corridor" advantage. Under the unprecedented changes in a century, a new round of technological revolution is imminent, and global technological competition is becoming increasingly fierce. Major countries regard the science and technology innovation corridor as an important platform for cultivating a "nuclear explosion point" of technological innovation, and a powerful tool for competing for the global technological high ground.
Fourthly, financial synergy empowerment is the key to the integration of technological innovation.
Finance is an important factor supporting technological innovation and plays an important role in the integration of technological innovation. Integrated technological innovation cannot be separated from integrated financial services, and cross regional collaborative empowerment of finance is a key link in the integration of technological innovation. The developed multi-level capital markets in science and technology innovation centers such as New York and San Francisco ensure the continuous advancement of the innovation and entrepreneurship process. Rich venture capital funds are not affected by administrative divisions and regions, providing personalized financial support for science and technology innovation enterprises at different development stages and risk levels. Many small and medium-sized science and technology innovation enterprises continue to grow and develop with the support of venture capital institutions. For example, Wall Street has utilized its capital advantage to provide stable capital support for Silicon Valley's technological innovation, creating a globally competitive US technology industry. Financial empowerment of technological innovation not only accelerates the precise matching of advantageous financial resources with scientific and technological innovation enterprises across regions, but also drives the development and growth of industrial clusters, promoting the integration of technological innovation across regions.
Fifthly, the technology intermediary service system is a catalyst for the integration of technological innovation.
Technological innovation is a comprehensive activity with high investment and risk, involving a large number of professional links throughout the entire innovation cycle. Many innovative entities do not possess the professional skills required for the entire life cycle of scientific research, research and development, mass production, and market. For example, innovation entities such as small and medium-sized enterprises have advantages in the laboratory stage and are not good at transformation and mass production after the laboratory. This stage not only requires financial support from investment institutions, but also professional services from technology intermediaries. Compared to investment institutions that are closer to the backend of the technology innovation chain, technology intermediaries are closer to research and development centers and small and medium-sized scientific and technological innovation enterprises, familiar with technology innovation activities and understanding market demand. For example, the San Francisco Bay Area integrates various services such as management information consulting, human resources, financial capital, technology transfer, finance, and law. Innovation entities do not need to master such complex professional skills themselves. They only need to purchase professional services in the market according to innovation needs. The integration of these services greatly improves the conversion efficiency of technological innovation in the San Francisco Bay Area.
How to enhance the level of technological innovation integration in the Yangtze River Delta region
One is to eliminate policy barriers to the free flow of innovative factors.
Due to administrative barriers and the influence of existing interest patterns, the cross regional flow of innovative elements such as talent, technology, capital, and information is still not smooth enough. At the same time, negative competition such as talent poaching and project grabbing among different regions has not been fundamentally resolved, which has also led to an improper allocation of innovative elements to a certain extent. Therefore, on the one hand, it is necessary to fundamentally eliminate policy barriers to scientific and technological innovation cooperation between different regions, establish a policy environment for rational flow of factors, and promote efficient allocation of regional innovation factors. On the other hand, we need to innovate the mechanism for using technological elements, vigorously promote flexible talent introduction, project-based cooperation, and other factor allocation methods, establish the concept of "not seeking for my own, but for my own use" for investing in innovative elements, abandon the previous disorderly competition practices such as talent excavation and factor competition, establish a unified hub for allocating innovative elements, and guide the free flow of technological innovation elements.
The second is to build industrial chain clusters with international competitiveness.
There are obvious complementary advantages among the three provinces and one city in the Yangtze River Delta. Shanghai has developed science and technology education, Jiangsu has a good foundation in the real economy, Zhejiang has strong market vitality, and Anhui has a latecomer advantage in new technologies. It is necessary to combine the complementary advantages of each province and city, and in accordance with the requirements of the "Joint Research and Cooperation Mechanism of the Yangtze River Delta Science and Technology Innovation Community", jointly sort out the regional science and technology innovation chain, focus on key areas that restrict the development of national key industries, jointly release demand "lists", jointly cultivate "nuclear explosion points" of science and technology innovation, accelerate the innovation leadership ability of regional science and technology enterprises, link the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain in a market-oriented manner, and form innovation consortia cross regional innovation consortium. This not only strengthens the synergy of the industrial chain, improves the operational efficiency of enterprises, but also accelerates the innovation achievements of Transforming and driving the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, further enhancing the independent and controllable ability of the industrial chain and supply chain, and creating an internationally competitive industrial chain cluster.
The third is to better leverage the innovative ecological conservation function of the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor.
The G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor should fully draw on the advanced experience of globally renowned science and technology corridors such as California 101 Highway, Boston 128 Highway, and the UK M4 Highway in allocating global science and technology resources, promoting cutting-edge technology and business models, and exploring the construction model of a global science and technology innovation corridor with Chinese characteristics. To better leverage the original innovation capabilities of universities and research institutions in the G60 region, we will strengthen the connection between research institutions and science and technology innovation parks through talent cooperation and co construction of laboratories. We should focus on cultivating innovation chain leaders and other leading enterprises in science and technology innovation, leveraging their functions in building the ecosystem of the science and technology innovation corridor, leading innovation platforms, and integrating value networks. We should cultivate technology giants such as Google, Apple, and Intel in the US Highway 101 science and technology innovation corridor, and promote the overall upward climb of the innovation chain in the G60 science and technology innovation corridor. At the same time, drawing on the tax incentives of the US Highway 128 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor, certain tax reductions will be given to technology-based enterprises characterized by innovative research or new product development. On the basis of tax incentives, cross regional coordination of tax policies in the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor will be promoted, and the integration level of science and technology innovation support policies will be improved to better support the innovative ecological conservation function of the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor.
The fourth is to explore a diversified and three-dimensional financial support system for technological innovation.
The Yangtze River Delta region has abundant scientific and technological innovation resources and a strong innovation atmosphere. However, due to the imperfect innovation system and mechanism, the enthusiasm of relevant innovation entities has not been fully mobilized. Therefore, on the one hand, we need to promote the reform of the scientific research management system, loosen the constraints on scientific research entities, liberate scientific and technological innovation activities from cumbersome procedures such as fund management and project evaluation, and allow scientific research entities to focus on innovation. On the other hand, we need to better leverage the role of government guidance and market incentives, coordinate the use of fiscal, tax, and incentive measures across regions, further improve the funding mechanism for diversified participation, fully leverage the role of the capital market, guide venture capital funds and others to flow to hardcore science and technology innovation enterprises, and continuously improve the multi-dimensional financial support system for scientific and technological innovation. Through the loosening of management systems and the pressure of incentive policies, we will gradually improve the mechanism of scientific and technological innovation system, and explore a new path that is conducive to stimulating innovation potential and unleashing innovation vitality.
The fifth is to introduce a professional and efficient technology innovation intermediary service system.
The current technology innovation intermediaries in the Yangtze River Delta are mainly non-profit institutions established under the leadership of the government. Compared with other science and technology innovation centers, they need to be further improved in terms of specialization and service level. To this end, on the one hand, we need to learn from the technology intermediary service system of science and technology innovation centers such as San Francisco, and vigorously develop technology intermediary institutions such as technology finance services, human resources services, technology transfer and transformation services. On the other hand, it is necessary to carefully summarize the successful experience of industry, academia, and research in China, such as the "Big Dipper Seven Star" model proposed by the Tsinghua Yangtze River Delta Research Institute, to open up ecological channels between government, enterprises, research institutions, financial institutions, technology intermediaries, and other entities, and build a full lifecycle technology innovation service system that catalyzes at the source, assists in the middle, and landing at the end.
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