Shanghai continues to build oasis for future industries

While three future industrial pilot zones begin taking shape in the city, Shanghai has been in consistent progress to build an innovative highland of future industries with an output value of 500 billion yuan ($69.26 billion) by 2030, according to official sources.

In the past year, Shanghai launched a batch of detailed action plans for the industries of the future and compiled white papers for the promising businesses, paving the way for the city to take the lead in developing future industries across the nation, said Li Yuhong, an official with the Shanghai Commission of Economy and Informatization.

According to Li, Monday is the first anniversary of Shanghai's three pilot zones for future industries, which are all well in good shape.

A total of 109 cutting-edge projects with a combined investment of 100.76 billion yuan are made in 2023 at Lin-gang Special Area, which is part of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, according to Lu Yu, an official with the special area.

Looking to expand the area's future industries to reach 100 billion yuan by 2030, Lin-gang Special Area is busy building future industrial clusters of intelligence, energy, health and future space, Lu said.

The Grand NeoBay in Shanghai's Minhang district has gathered 22 national-level research and development institutions, 152 municipal-level R&D organizations and 46 foreign-funded R&D centers, plus more than 4,000 technology enterprises, according to Liu Jia, an official of the Minhang district.

"It is worth mentioning that Volant, a company specialized in the development of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL), is in the procedure of type certificate application for its manned eVTOL," said Liu.

The pilot zone in Zhangjiang of Pudong New Area is currently home to 24,000 enterprises, including more than 1,900 high-tech enterprises. Taking future health, for example, the area offers all-around services ranging from incubation to industrialization.

In September 2022, the Shanghai municipal government unveiled an action plan for future industries including future health, future intelligence, future energy, future space and future materials.

According to the plan, future industrial clusters will be developed in Shanghai, and by the year 2030, the future industrial scale will reach about 500 billion yuan.