By Xie Weiqun, People’s Daily

Shidanghu is a 44-square kilometer township located at the source of the Huangpu River in Songjiang district of Shanghai. Over the recent years, modern factories have been built one after another in the township, whose development once relied on agriculture. Therefore, Shidanghu today is known as a cluster of “future factories.”

What brought the change to the township is the construction of the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor.

G60 is an expressway linking Songjiang in east China and Kunming, capital of southwest China’s Yunnan province. The idea of introducing sci-tech innovation and advanced manufacturing enterprises along the expressway, which was later known as the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor, was proposed by Songjiang authorities in May 2016.

Now the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor covers nine cities and districts along the G60 expressway, including Zhejiang’s Jiaxing, Hangzhou, Huzhou, and Jinhua, Jiangsu’s Suzhou, as well as Anhui’s Hefei, Wuhu and Xuancheng.

Over the past five years, the corridor has always been adhering to sci-tech innovation and institutional innovation, and focusing on the integration of industrial, supply, capital and human resource chains. As a result, it has significantly strengthened its capability in allocating resources and factors, and further expanded its influence, achieving a batch of important outcomes.

“We came to Songjiang in 2016 to build our sci-tech innovation ecology. We built an industrial park covering 70,000 square meters, but there was barely any enterprise settling in it. Thanks to the notion of the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor, sci-tech innovation factors have gathered in the region. In just a few years, our industrial park has expanded multiple times. Today, it covers over 370,000 square meters and is home to more than 500 enterprises that employ over 5,000 people,” said Wang Jiwu, chairman of Tus-Holdings Co., Ltd.

Around the Rafael Sky City, a landmark construction of the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor, 16 cities have set up “innovation enclaves,” which house a number of sci-tech enterprises and talents. These “innovation enclaves” have further reinforced the foundation for sci-tech innovation.

The G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor is not only witnessing a growing number of sci-tech innovation enterprises, but also higher quality of sci-tech programs.

A project of non-human primate clones of monkeys has been launched at the Shanghai Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Technology based in the corridor, which helps promote the development of brain-inspired intelligent systems, smart humanoid robots, and other relevant programs. Besides, Chinese tech giant Tencent also set up its Keen Security Lab and YouTu Lab in Songjiang district.

Adopting a joint research mechanism for key technologies, the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor has built a batch of high-level platforms for sci-tech innovation, which led to a number of important original scientific results such as monkey cloning, quantum communication, “artificial sun,” and large silicon wafers.

The G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor has a clear vision – to build itself into an advanced corridor transforming China from a manufacturer to a creator, a pilot corridor driven by both sci-tech and institutional innovation, and a pioneering corridor integrating industrial and urban development.

To realize the vision, the nine cities and districts along the G60 expressway are working vigorously in collaboration to achieve synergetic development.

They set up a special group and a joint conference mechanism to better construct the corridor. Besides, a joint office was established in Songjiang, where personnel from the nine cities and districts work together to promote synergetic development. These efforts have made industrial division clearer and further facilitated the collaboration among the nine cities and districts.

Xu Weihua, vice mayor of Hangzhou, noted that Hangzhou’s Zhejiang University, relying on the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor, has built a batch of advanced innovation platforms in cooperation with Suzhou, Jiaxing, Jinhua and Hefei, including a Shanghai-Hangzhou innovation center of the Dream Town.

Cities along the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor have been deeply integrated with each other industry-wise, Xu said.

To distribute sci-tech resources in a market-oriented and law-based manner remains a major character of the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor.

For instance, a project of designing and developing a medium-power new energy simulation test platform was recently traded at a sci-tech outcome auction.

“An important goal of us is to maximize the value of technologies and ensure their market-oriented circulation,” said Guo Shuqing, deputy head of the joint office of the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor and director of Songjiang district’s sci-tech development office.

To accelerate the commercialization of innovation results and ensure the flow of innovative factors has become a common action of the nine cities and districts, Guo noted.

So far, the nine cities and districts have established 11 demonstration bases and 36 matrixes for the commercialization of technological outcomes, as well as 43 roadshow consortiums under the framework of the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor. Besides, they have also set up an online factor matchmaking platform and an alliance for promoting the commercialization of technological outcomes.