At the heart of Shanghai’s Zhangjiang district, the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF) is more than a striking silver "donut" of cutting-edge science—it’s the engine driving the Yangtze River Delta’s transformation into a high-tech powerhouse.
Since its completion in 2009, the SSRF—nicknamed the "Shanghai Light Source"—has powered over 20,000 experimental projects across disciplines, from materials science to drug discovery.
Last year (2024), nearly half of SSRF’s users hailed from the Yangtze River Delta—a region that weaves together Shanghai with Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui—to share world-class infrastructure and ideas.
That spirit of collaboration is mirrored in Shanghai’s research output. During the first half of 2024, one in three papers published by Chinese researchers in top-tier international journals was authored in the city.
The region’s industrial ecosystem is equally vibrant: an average of 320 new tech startups launch every day, backed by a talent pool of over 800,000 specialists in integrated circuits, biomedicine and artificial intelligence.
Zhangjiang alone hosts open innovation centers for half of the world’s top 20 pharmaceutical companies, creating a unique nexus of academic excellence and commercial scale.
Beyond Shanghai, the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor stretches across the delta, accounting for one-seventh of China’s high-tech enterprises and over 20% of the companies listed on the STAR Market.
In aerospace, Shanghai’s Lingang "Big Plane Park" showcases a hyper-cluster model: manufacturers can reach a third of all aircraft component suppliers within a three-hour high-speed rail journey, slashing costs and speeding up mass production.
Policy is catching up with practice. In September 2024, authorities rolled out the Decision on Promoting the Coordinated Development of Science and Technology Innovation in the Yangtze River Delta, laying a legal foundation for deeper integration.
At the December 2024 Central Economic Work Conference, leaders marked the Shanghai (Yangtze River Delta) International Science and Technology Innovation Center as a top priority for 2025—alongside similar hubs in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Results are already global. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization’s 2025 Global Innovation Index, clusters in the delta ranked 6th (Shanghai-Suzhou), 13th (Hangzhou), 15th (Nanjing) and 39th (Hefei) worldwide. The region shares 56,000 pieces of scientific equipment across provinces and connects 200 leading universities with 600 corporations.
By tearing down internal barriers and pooling resources, the Yangtze River Delta is redefining China’s path to high-quality development—and setting a blueprint for regional innovation on the world stage.
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How China's Yangtze River Delta drives national high-tech innovation
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