Lin-gang tops the class in science, innovation in Shanghai

The Lin-gang Special Area – located in East China's Shanghai – recently launched a key science and technology innovation development index, delineating its achievements in science and technology innovation in the precinct.

The index takes Shanghai's science and innovation development as the benchmark in order to delineate its competitive advantages.

Backdating it, the area's score increased from 100 points in 2019 to 128.87 points in 2020. The relative index was 120.51, indicating that the development speed of science and technology innovation in the Lin-gang Special Area was 20.51 percent faster than that of the entire city.

The index for top enterprises scored 149.48 points compared with the city's index for top enterprises during the same period. The number of "little giant" firms – the term referring to businesses with a minimum of 5 percent year-on-year average growth rate in main business income or net profits over two years – was 197, up 55.1 percent.

To top it off, the top talent index scored 122.52 points as the number of research & development personnel reached 51,000, up 30.7 percent.

The transformation index of science and technological achievements scored 135.93 points during the period. The total R&D investment reached 22.69 billion yuan ($3.37 billion), which was up 18.9 percent on the previous corresponding period. The turnover of technology contracts, meanwhile, increased by 106.1 percent.

The science and innovation service index scored 153.79, with the amount of innovative training increasing by 15.2 percent.

The area saw a 328 percent increase in the number of venture capital projects initiated by its enterprises over the past year.

Crystal Innovation Towers, a landmark in the International Collaborative Innovation Zone, is under currently under construction in the Lin-gang Special Area. [Photo/WeChat ID: lgqyfwj]