Shanghai unveils innovation associations to promote Yangtze River Delta integration

​A view of Putuo district. [Photo/Putuo district government]

Shanghai announced a slate of innovation milestones on Oct 26 at the 2025 World Cities Day Series of Events and Technology and Industrial Collaborative Innovation Day held at T-Center in Putuo district.

These included the unveiling of the first batch of sector-focused innovation associations in biomedicine, integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, an online services platform, and the appointment of 74 technology managers.

These efforts not only responded to the global initiative of "People-Centered Smart Cities Towards the Future" on World Cities Day but also offered an action plan to implement the integrated development strategy of the Yangtze River Delta region.

The Shanghai-Nanjing Industrial Innovation Belt initiative engages nine cities, including Shanghai as well as Nanjing, Wuxi, Changzhou, Suzhou, Nantong, Yangzhou, Zhenjiang and Taizhou in Jiangsu province. It covers one of the regions with the most active economic development, the highest degree of openness and the strongest innovation capability in China.

Last year, the total GDP of these nine cities exceeded 15.9 trillion yuan ($2.2 trillion), accounting for 11.8 percent of the total national economy and 48 percent of the total economic volume of the Yangtze River Delta region.

Since February, Putuo district has leveraged its location and actively participated in the construction of this initiative, with the aim of bolstering Shanghai's development as a global science and technology innovation hub.