Shanghai launches new action plan to foster adaptive industrial ecosystem

Shanghai's continued efforts to improve its business environment are conducive to creating a vibrant ecosystem for technological innovation, which serves as a key growth engine for the city's high-quality economic development, officials and company executives said.

A new action plan developed and released by the municipal government on Sunday inspired the comments with its 26 detailed measures designed to improve the city's business environment. First rolled out in 2018, the latest edition aims for progress in governmental services, market competition, industrial ecosystem, and social co-governance.

Gu Jun, director of the Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, said during a news conference on Thursday that this year's action plan has, for the first time, raised the target of building an ecosystem adaptable to the development of various industries.

By using industrial parks and buildings more efficiently, resources will be made more accessible to key industries so that more innovation results and start-ups can be nurtured amid a more dynamic entrepreneurial environment, Gu said.

This is of much significance to asset-light cultural companies whose core value is innovation, said Li Yingjia, chairman of Shanwen Culture and Communication (Shanghai) Co Ltd, a local producer of short dramas.

"The cultural industry, which used to be understood as a 'soft power', often struggled to receive the same support in terms of space, finance, and talents as that given to hard technology and manufacturing companies," Li said. "But this year's action plan has clarified the oversight of new business models such as short dramas as well as anime, comics, and games activities." "Regulatory transparency and the efficiency of approvals for these emerging industries are expected to improve, which in turn facilitates the development of these industries," he added.

Industrial parks will be supported to build concept validation platforms, professional incubators, and pilot testing platforms. Industry leaders and companies along the same industrial chain are encouraged to build platforms to facilitate regular communication and exchange of ideas so that a win-win situation can be created, according to the latest action plan.

Chen Weiliang, founder of domestic graphics processing units giant MetaX, is well aware of the importance of a wholesome industrial ecosystem. Established in Shanghai's Pudong New Area in 2020, the company has witnessed the maturity of the entire industrial chain as companies specializing in electronic design automation can all be found in Pudong.

"With the computing foundation built in Pudong, companies of our kind can in turn facilitate the development of more industries," Chen said.

Wu Jincheng, government head of Pudong New Area, said the competitiveness in the ecosystem is of significant appeal to companies. The total value of the three emerging industries of integrated circuits, biomedicine, and artificial intelligence in Pudong accounted for 45 percent of Shanghai's total last year.

Companies along the industrial chain may be found within the same building or among their neighbors, Wu said.

Positioned as a pioneer of China's socialist modernization, at the beginning of the year Pudong introduced a total of 52 detailed measures to enhance its business environment — including enriching the application scenarios of emerging technologies such as AI, autonomous driving, and embodied intelligence.

Shanghai will also step up its support for equity financing, especially that among technologically advanced small and medium-sized enterprises, Tao Changsheng, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau, said at the Thursday news conference.

Zhou Xiaoyan, deputy director of the general office of the municipal government, said on Thursday that Shanghai will further streamline the process of directly obtaining policy support without an application in advance. The city's technology innovation coupons — special municipal-level fiscal support for tech — have been included in this innovative measure since August, benefiting over 30,000 enterprises.

Interactive entertainment company Paper Games has largely benefited from such easier access to policy support, significantly lowering the company's operating costs and allowing it to focus on content creation, Qi Hang, the company's vice-president for corporate public affairs, said.

"The government system will automatically send us a reminder once our company is qualified for certain support policy," Qi said. "With one click, the funding support will arrive quickly. The whole process is seamless, hassle-free, and efficient. Such fairness and efficiency are vital to new-economy online companies."