Local government revenue for Songjiang District maintained positive growth for 70 consecutive months as of the end of 2020, according to statistics released at a recent congress of the Party's Songjiang District committee.

Its GDP in 2020 reached 163.711 billion yuan (US$25.703 billion), up 10.5 percent year on year; its fiscal revenue was 22.062 billion yuan with an average yearly increase of 12.4 percent, statistics show. The suburban district's positive economic achievements benefit from its focus on the advanced manufacturing and producer service sector, its strenuous efforts to promote cooperation with neighboring cities, its aim to cultivate global advanced industrial clusters and its emphasis on industrial innovation.

Importance of industry

Industrial development contributes greatly to the district's tax revenue. Its absolute investment amount in industrial fixed assets in 2020 increased by 35.2 percent. The number of industrial enterprises above designated size by 2020 reached 1,488. Its industrial output for above-designated-size companies in 2020 was 407.2 billion yuan, ranking second citywide.

Strategic new industrial output accounted for 63.1 percent of the total industrial annual output. The tax revenue ratio of the manufacturing industry increased, and the regional economy halted its reliance on the real estate sector.

"Songjiang takes the initiative to choose high-quality development, putting priority on developing advanced manufacturing and producer service sectors, and promoting cooperation among Yangtze River Delta cities," said Cheng Xiangmin, Party secretary of Songjiang District.

Out with the old, in with the new

The district's G60 High-Tech Corridor vision, an urban-rural development axis that connects Songjiang with eight cities in the Yangtze River Delta region, has gone through its 1.0 to 3.0 versions to arrive at its current status as a national strategy.

Within the past five years, the district has dropped 4,167 companies with outdated industrial capacity, while witnessing a batch of advanced manufacturing projects and companies arise along G60 Highway's Songjiang section.

Strategic new industrial clusters including integrated circuits, biomedicine and artificial intelligence have been formed, and the district now has 1,755 high-tech companies, 3.7 times more than at the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015). While creating its innovative industrial chains, Songjiang is actively promoting cross-region, high-efficiency cooperation. It has established 14 cross-region industrial alliances and 11 cooperative industrial demonstration parks.

The district has forged agreements with COMAC, SMIC and Tencent Yangtze River Delta Super-computing Center, among others. When COMAC asked for supporting industries, the district helped it seek cooperation with companies along the G60 High-Tech Corridor. Within six months, substitutions of the company's homemade supplies increased by 30 percent.

The district also set up a storage database for more than 400 cities in the nine cities of the G60 High-Tech Corridor when starting its cooperation with Tencent. Within 58 days, Songjiang assisted Tencent in completing the whole process from project registration to land bidding for its super-computing center.

To create a self-reliant innovation chain and grasp key advanced technologies, Songjiang has set up a batch of national labs, including the G60 Brain Intelligence S&T Innovation Base, Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology, Shanghai Low Carbon Technology Research Institute, Shanghai Aviation Measuring and Controlling Technology Research Institute, and Tencent's Keen Security Lab and Youtu Lab. Songjiang has 55 academic and expert working stations, ranking third citywide, and has introduced 202 academics and 25 experts.

"We've gained great support from Songjiang District," said Bo Muming, a planner for the G60 Brain Intelligence S&T Innovation Base.

The district has assisted the base in its office and research center construction, talent's household registration, education for talent's children and talent apartment offering.