The “tipping point” of sci-tech innovation has been hotly discussed recently. “An innovative city should have several ‘tipping points’ that are the sources of innovative ideas and new frontiers as well as the gathering areas of the best innovative resources from around the world.” These words have become a consensus. To accelerate the building of a global sci-tech innovation center, Shanghai must create its own “tipping points” of sci-tech innovation. To this end, Shanghai should grasp its overall positioning set by the Party and the state in the strategy of innovation-driven development, pay close attention to the frontiers of sci-tech development and trend changes in global conditions, and make the necessary preparations both mentally and practically.

There are two typical “tipping points” of sci-tech innovation in China. One is Zhongguancun in Beijing. Zhongguancun gathers a large number of high-level universities, major research institutes, advanced scientific facilities and high-caliber talents in various disciplines and fields. Their work in the frontier areas of world science has produced numerous major achievements and an evident knowledge spillover effect. Zhongguancun has fostered more than 20,000 high-tech enterprises, over 400 listed companies and 102 unicorn enterprises. The other one is Yuehai Subdistrict, Nanshan District, Shenzhen. In this place that covers an area of 14 square kilometers, 1,931 national high-tech enterprises, 320 enterprises that use special and sophisticated technologies to produce novel and unique products, 101 listed companies and six unicorn enterprises have emerged and they unleash innovation energy by targeting future industries and contribute to half of the economic aggregate of Nanshan District. The two “tipping points” of sci-tech innovation are located in different regions and have different endowments, but they have both seized preemptive opportunities in the paradigm shift of sci-tech innovation and carried out fruitful practical explorations for enhancing the concentration and level of elements, planning ecological niches and establishing triggering mechanisms.

To create “tipping points” of sci-tech innovation, Shanghai should not only give play to its current advantages and favorable underlying conditions but also accurately identify its shortcomings and weaknesses and make up for them. Specifically, Shanghai can follow the following three paths:

Activating the potential energy of large scientific facilities

Catalyzing the “tipping” effect of cluster breakthroughs in basic and frontier research

Large scientific facilities are “national key projects” for carrying out top-notch fundamental research. According to statistics, large scientific facilities were responsible for about 40% of the achievements winning the Nobel Prize in Physics over the past 40 years. The reason why Silicon Valley can become an innovation hotspot that attracts world attention is closely related to the centrally distributed and efficiently operating large scientific facilities in the area, including Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories California Center, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Palo Alto Research Center and NASA’s Ames Research Center.

Currently, Shanghai is leading in China in the quantity, investment and construction progress of large scientific facilities that are built or under construction. The next priority for Shanghai is to unleash the energy of these facilities in commencing innovation as soon as possible. Firstly, Shanghai should further improve the open operation design and institutional guarantees for large scientific facilities, accelerate professional management and operation service team building and focus on improving the service capabilities and utilization efficiency of built facilities. Secondly, Shanghai should attract domestic and foreign strategic scientists, leading talents in science and technology and young talents in reliance on the research conditions created by large scientific facilities, guide and gather functional resources related to sci-tech services, explore frontier issues of great scientific value, plan and organize high-level research activities, activate the “egg laying” (incubation) effect of large scientific facilities and generate more strategic, source and reserve sci-tech achievements. Thirdly, Shanghai should strengthen the linkage with other large scientific facilities in the Yangtze River Delta region, build an internationally leading cluster of large scientific facilities, accelerate the connectivity of the Yangtze River Delta Community of Sci-Tech Innovation on physical, institutional and ecological levels and promote the rapid rise of a world-class innovation-driven industrial cluster.

Relying on the “knowledge overflow” of high-level universities

Creating a “tipping point” from the knowledge economy around universities

In the national innovation system, universities play the “knowledge growth pole” and “talent empowerment field” roles and function as thought leaders and sources of cultural nutrition. Taking London and Tokyo, two cities leading in innovation, as an example, London concentrates about one-third of universities and research institutions in the UK, including Imperial College London, University College London, King’s College London, and the London School of Economics and Political Science, with the number of annual graduates accounting for about 40% of the total in the UK. On the other hand, Tokyo gathers 154 universities such as the University of Tokyo and Tokyo Institute of Technology, accounting for about 30% of all universities in Japan, with the number of university students accounting for 40% of the total in Japan. Apparently, the aggregation of high-level universities has become indispensable to cities’ ambitions to lead innovation.

First, Shanghai should further deepen “ministry-municipality” cooperation, secure resources for school running from multiple channels, fully promote the new-round construction of universities included in the “double world-class project” and consolidate the conditions and capability foundations for knowledge overflow of high-level universities. Further, Shanghai should promote comprehensive research universities to play a greater role in cutting-edge scientific research and technological development in line with global standards and specifications for building international sci-tech innovation center. Meanwhile, to meet the needs of frontier scientific investigation and breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields, Shanghai should explore diverse school running methods and build numerous “small but excellent” innovative universities. Second, Shanghai should advance reform in universities’ scientific research management systems, target the frontiers of world science, concentrate on China’s strategic needs, strengthen organized scientific research, encourage interdisciplinary integration and enhance the ability and level of knowledge production. Thirdly, Shanghai should focus on enhancing the marketization and specialization of the sci-tech service system with university sci-tech parks, etc. at the core through policy guidance, deepen the interaction between knowledge production in universities and market demand, ensure the quality of commencing innovation from 0 to 1, increase conversion efficiency from 1 to 10, amplify the spillover effect from 10 to 100 and continue to push up the innovation level of the knowledge economy circle around universities.

Focusing on “leading enterprises”

Driving the resonance of the innovation chain, industry chain, supply chain and even value chain

Stimulating the multiplier effect of sci-tech innovation

At “tipping points” of sci-tech innovation, there are often a group of leading enterprises in industry segments. These enterprises propel the overall improvement of innovation capabilities and cluster development of other enterprises through their control over core technologies in key links of the industrial chain and their voice in developing standards and codes. The San Francisco-San Jose region is home to 289 unicorn enterprises, and high-tech industries that are growing quickly. These enterprises have a market capitalization of nearly USD 8 trillion, making them the most valuable in the world’s sci-tech and industrial competition. In Yuehai Subdistrict, there are several advantageous industrial clusters with “leading enterprises” at the core, including the electronic information technology and communication industry cluster led by ZTE Corporation, the Internet and digital industry cluster led by Tencent and the biomedical and health industry cluster led by Mindray Medical.

Therefore, Shanghai should continue to optimize the business environment; focus on the lifecycle of enterprise development; strengthen the whole-process policy, capital, service, platform and data empowerment; and foster more leading enterprises in the three leading industries, six key industries, four new frontier industries and five future industries. Based on these enterprises as the axis, it is required to enhance its full control over innovation chain and industrial chain, stimulate multi-point explosions of core technological innovations in key fields, and promote the creation of a globally competitive open innovation ecosystem.

Original article published in Jiefang Daily, April 11, 2023