New high-tech park brings industry innovation with a homage to history

Credit: Zhu Shenshen / SHINE

Caption: A blueprint of the Vi Park, a high-tech park transformed from a rubber plant.

A century-old rubber plant has been transformed into a Bauhaus-style high-tech park, representing Shanghai's leading position in nationwide innovation and industry, both historically and today.

The park, in Minhang District, the southern area of Shanghai, used to be the Dazheng Rubber Factory dating back to 1920. It produced for time-honored brands in tires and shoes, like Warrior and Shuangqian, and boasted numerous milestones in the history of China's industrial development. During its peak period, it contributed one-third of China's rubber output.

Credit: Zhu Shenshen / SHINE

Caption: The rubber plant has a long history with time-honored brands.

Now the plant has been transformed into Vi Park, an innovative venue for firms and R&D centers in laser, satellite communications, 5G and chip technology. But themes of the former rubber plant have still been maintained.

Designer Atelier Scale, cooperating with property owners and professional teams, transformed the factory for the modern era.

The principle was to balance the "new" and the "old" and maintain the fresh vitality of the park during its historic course through design, Yang Xiaoli, the Vi Park project's general manager, said on Monday.

Credit: Zhu Shenshen / SHINE

Caption: Yang Xiaoli, the Vi Park project's general manager, introduces high-tech firms at the park.

Credit: Zhu Shenshen / SHINE

Caption: The theme of tire, a major product of the rubber plant, has remained in the park.

The firms in the park now represent China's top innovation in manufacturing and industry, and fit well with the city's strategy to develop as a global innovation hub.

Among them, Shanghai-based Histarlink, a Chinese equivalent of Elon Musk's Starlink, offers laser-based satellite communications products.

They're used in sectors like aerospace and emergency communications, which improve satellite communications with higher speed and lower costs. It boasts up to a 50 percent cut in costs compared with overseas devices, according to Tan Jun, general manager of Histarlink.

Credit: Zhu Shenshen / SHINE

Caption: Shanghai-based Histarlink, a Chinese equivalent of Elon Musk's Starlink, offers laser-based satellite communications products.

The redesigned Vi Park is part of the Grand neoBay Sci-tech Innovation Park in Minhang District, which will become a world leading sci-tech area by 2035, according to Shanghai's blueprint.

By then, the Grand neoBay will be home to 100 tech giants and generate a combined industry output over 200 billion yuan (US$29 billion). It will become a growth engine for Shanghai's innovation and economic development, officials said on Monday.