A bird's eye view of the AIsland in Zhangjiang Science City, Shanghai [Photo by Shen Chunchen/For China Daily]

Pudong New Area, a driving engine of Shanghai's economic development, valued its artificial intelligence (AI) industry and related industries at 40.85 billion yuan ($5.69 billion), accounting for 60 percent of Shanghai's total, according to a white paper unveiled at the 2019 World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai.

To date, Pudong is home to a total of 383 AI enterprises, accounting for one third of the metropolis. Thirteen out of 50 leading AI companies in Shanghai are from Pudong. More than 7,000 domestic and foreign patent applications connected to AI have been filed.

Compiled by the Technical and Economy Committee of Pudong New Area and the East China Branch of China Academy of Information and Technology, the report indicates that Pudong has formed an ecosystem in the integration of AI and 5G industries with a favorable industrial layout, solid industrial foundation, rich application scenarios and a clustering of science and technology resources.

Around 63 percent of Shanghai's AI chip companies are located in Pudong, among which intelligent chip design and R&D-related companies are particularly noteworthy. More than 10 types of AI+5G applications are involved, including intelligent manufacturing, unmanned vehicles, intelligent robots, augmented reality and virtual reality.

It is estimated that the scale of AI-related industries in Pudong New Area will be capped 65.36 billion yuan in 2019 and exceed 100 billion yuan in 2020.

AI empowers a new era and creates endless possibilities. The integration of AI and 5G technologies will usher the world into an intelligent future, said Weng Zuliang, Party secretary of Pudong.

He noted that the area will step up efforts in developing AI application scenarios and improving public services to encourage technological innovation. In this way it will create a sound environment conducive for the accelerated development of the AI industry.