THE city's suburban Songjiang District is to build a sci-tech innovation hub, composed of nine industrial parks scattering along the G60 Expressway, which stretches across the whole district, to upgrade the district's manufacturing industry and promote innovation, officials said yesterday.

By integrating the resources of the nine industrial parks, the district aims to play an important role in the city's development as a innovation center with global influence.

To attract talent and innovative companies, the district rolled out 60 preferential policies yesterday, including a 2-billion yuan (US$310 million) annual budget to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, and industry upgrades.