City ready to boost strategy for next five-year plan

While Shanghai has already overtaken all other cities with a whopping 10,000 cafes, flavor is no longer the main factor competing for coffee lovers' attention.

Providing more "emotional value", ideally with a touch of technology, can help a brewer stand out from their peers, according to Han Zhaolin, founder of Shanghai Hi-Dolphin Robot Technology Co.

The company's sixth-generation robot baristas can provide such added value by displaying a customer's image as latte art. The idea partly comes from the close ties Hi-Dolphin has built with the local community in central Shanghai's Changning district, home to "Silicon Alley".

"Places where you can find everyday hustle and bustle can generate new lifestyles and new ways of consumption," Han said. "It's for this reason that we located our office to Changning in 2018. The neighborhood and communities can provide companies with various scenarios to test their new ideas, whether it is about writing codes or developing robots," he said.

WestWell, a Shanghai-based logistics solutions provider specializing in artificial intelligence and autopilot technology, set up an operation in Silicon Alley in February 2024. According to the company's founder and CEO Tan Limin, "writing codes among plane trees and discussing state-of-the-art technology advancements" can best describe the everyday work scenario.

The easier access to restaurants, shops, museums and sports venues also greatly appeals to WestWell's employees, most of whom are overseas returnees aged around 30, Tan said.

"Convenient transportation is another attraction. It can take me only 30 minutes to arrive at an airplane door from my office. We have seen a rising trend in recent years of more technology companies returning to the city center," he said.

"Sometimes our engineers can complete the product innovation and upgrading plan in a cafe, which can be easily found in Silicon Alley. There are another two technology companies within 15 minutes' walk from WestWell, which creates a strong innovation vibe here," he added.

Xu Yuxuan, public affairs director of Black Lake Technology, an industrial internet company that set up its office in Silicon Alley in 2016, said: "The distance between different technology companies here is measured in hundreds of meters. Deals may be inked with a neighboring company over a coffee."

More than 900 technology startups are now operating in Silicon Alley, which covers only 1.48 square kilometers.

Shanghai started the development phase of renovating existing spaces in 2014. Liu Ping, head of Changning, said the district's goal is to improve its capacity via "micro upgrading" of the existing workspace, a scarce resource in the center of the city.

"Our goal is to create an innovation ecosystem under which suppliers are next door and companies in the same industrial chain can be found in the same office building. Technology innovation should not be distant from everyday lives, for the ultimate product derived from innovation is aimed at making people's lives better," said Liu.

While Shanghai is preparing for the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), Changning should stick to its strengths by attracting technology clusters to the city's central areas via urban upgrading, said Liu.