A powerhouse of the future

Pudong New Area has been promoting innovations in a broad range of fields to maintain its vitality and better serve global investors.

"Promoting opening-up and reform is the mission and the most significant characteristic of Pudong," said Hang Yingwei, district governor of Pudong New Area.

The district is home to the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, the first of its kind in China, which has been a leader in the country's reform and opening-up since its establishment in 2013.

Some of the FTZ's most successful innovations include lists of areas that are off-limits to foreign investment, the introduction of the China (Shanghai) International Trade Single Window, the separation of business licenses and operating permits, and the Free Trade Account system. In August 2019, the Lingang Special Area was included in the Shanghai FTZ, marking the zone's second expansion to further supporting the opening of the Chinese market. To date, more than 300 innovative policies have been promoted nationwide.

Pudong has worked to strengthen its position and influence in global finance. According to the Global Financial Centres Index report released in September this year, Shanghai rose one place to the third among the world financial centers, thanks in part to Pudong's efforts.

"As the core area in supporting Shanghai to become an international financial center, Pudong has the most financial resource markets, the largest financial institute cluster and the most active financial trade, which supports the city's success," Hang said.

To date, Pudong is home to 13 financial resource markets. It has more than 2,000 professional financial service providers in banking, security, insurance, funds, trusts and asset management. The district also boasts 95 foreign asset management firms, accounting for 90 percent of all in China. Nine out of the top 10 global asset management companies have settled in Pudong, according to Hang.

Pudong has also improved its business environment to support the long-term development of global companies.

Companies now have shortened procedures and waiting times for business-related applications. Online application and approval systems are also being used to save time for businesses.

United States-based electric car maker Tesla's "gigafactory" in Pudong, which has attracted over 50 billion yuan in investment, started construction just six months after the project was signed off on by the local government.

In the biopharmaceutical field, Pudong is the first district in China to introduce the Marketing Authorization Holder system, which has helped many small companies turn research results into real products.

A system to help innovation and business incubation and development has been set up in Pudong. A total of 172 innovation-centered incubators and more than 190 public innovation supportive platforms that help startups in different phases have been established to reduce the cost of innovation and entrepreneurship for small and medium-sized businesses. An intellectual property protection mechanism was built to provide the strongest support to companies and individuals.

Pudong has also accelerated its creation of clusters of innovative industries, mainly in the fields of integrated circuits, smart manufacturing, large aircraft, internet-connected vehicles and artificial intelligence.

Local officials has set up measures to support emerging industries and technologies such as cloud computing, big data and 5G development. Pudong is promoting the development of six key industrial clusters, each with an annual industrial output value of more than 100 billion yuan. The clusters cover chip making, innovative drugs, aviation, new energy vehicles, smart manufacturing and big data, to serve China's high-quality development.