Minhang Aims to Boost Source of Innovation at Grand NeoBay

Minhang District is striving to create a strong magnet for opening-up and innovation and a new landmark for science-industry integration, and strengthening the source of innovation at the Grand NeoBay hub is a major goal.

Minhang's Grand NeoBay has emerged as one of China's most ambitious science-and-technology (sci-tech) innovation clusters. Anchored by two prestigious universities – Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) and East China Normal University (ECNU) – the zone is the city's only functional area explicitly designated for "science and technology innovation source".

The core area of 17 square kilometers now hosts over 13,000 enterprises, including 706 high-tech firms, 181 companies valued above 100 million yuan (US$14.82 million), 47 unicorns with market value above 1 billion yuan, and 10 listed-company headquarters.

As China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) period begins, Grand NeoBay is accelerating on three fronts simultaneously: strategic planning, physical infrastructure, and urban-space renewal – all aimed at forging a world-class sci-tech bay.

Minhang continues to enhance its national strategic sci-tech capabilities, with the latest Grand NeoBay Science & Technology Innovation Source Functional Zone Action Plan released in June, laying out major tasks at the world-leading sci-tech hub.

The three-year plan aims to increase the number of enterprises valued above 100 million yuan from 140 to 170, establish high-quality incubators with dedicated funds and public labs for electronics and advanced equipment.

Four 100-billion-yuan clusters will be set up, covering pioneering industries such as aerospace-economy, life science and health and wellness, smart industries, and advanced energy, in addition to a marine-engineering strategic cluster and the Shanghai Gerontechnology Industrial Park.

Other supportive measures will also be put in place, such as targeted financial service for sci-tech innovations, seed-to-PE fund matrix, a future-tech conversion fund, a world-class talent hub, including a "zero-cost" entrepreneurship community with up to 3 years rent-free space, and open international cooperation facilities such as the Global Alliance on Artificial Intelligence for Industry and Manufacturing Center of Excellence.

A stronger linkage will be established between the Grand NeoBay hub and the rest of Minhang and satellite zones such as the Maqiao AI Test Area and Zhuanqiao.

Municipal- and district-level policies reinforce the plan. The Zhangjiang National Indigenous Innovation Demonstration Zone special-fund measures and the Grand NeoBay construction policy package offer subsidies for technology commercialization, industrial-space guarantees, and talent support. Minhang's own "Science and Technology 10 Articles" and the biomedical industry development policy add R&D investment subsidies, high-tech enterprise cultivation, support for CRO/CMO/CDMO (contract research organization, contract manufacturing organization and contract development and manufacturing organization), and talent-specific financial backing.

A physical centerpiece of this strategy is the newly operational BIO-TECH Innovation Star Port, a designated smart medical innovation center at the Grand NeoBay.

It sits within a one-kilometer technology-transfer radius of the SJTU, ECNU, national key laboratories, and is close to major players such as CATL's Future Energy Research Institute, the Aero Engine Corp. of China, and the Shanghai AI Research Institute.

The complex offers three types of commercial space available for all players alongside the full business lifecycle, namely headquarters office space, R&D facilities and pilot-scale R&D space, as well as roadshow facilities and lecture halls.

The complex is embedded in Shanghai's southern 100-billion-yuan sci-tech industrial belt, targeting six frontier tracks: biomedicine, elderlycare technology, aerospace, intelligent equipment, new energy, and marine engineering.

A full one-stop service system is also available to handle business registration, high-tech enterprise certification, financing matchmaking, patent protection, and university patent commercialization.

Urban renewal

Urban renewal is also an important part of the plan that transforms the sci-tech and innovation belt into an artery connecting residents and urban living space.

Grand NeoBay's ambition extends beyond buildings to the urban fabric itself. The Grand NeoBay Sci-Tech Waterfront project is transforming 2.7 kilometers of the Beihengjing Canal into a vibrant innovation corridor linking campus, park, and city.

Launched formally in 2021 after a successful 750-meter pilot completed in 2020, the project tackles decades of fragmentation: bridges sealed beneath roads, shorelines walled off by factories and residential compounds, and a canal cut off from the community neighborhoods it passes through.

The renewal uses elevated waterfront boardwalks to carry pedestrians over urban arteries, and opening up sealed walls to form a multi-level promenade system stitching together the SJTU, science parks, and residential neighborhoods.

To precisely meet the diverse needs of sci-tech innovation talent, several "15-minute waterfront zones" will be set up to integrate closely with the regional plan and to enhance the ecological and liveability standards of the area, providing a solid ecological foundation for the development of sci-tech innovation.