A few days ago, the China Institute of Science and Technology Information of the Ministry of Science and Technology released the "National Innovative City Innovation Capacity Evaluation Report 2021", which comprehensively evaluated 72 innovative cities across the country. According to the report, the top ten national innovative cities in terms of innovation capabilities in 2021 are: Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuhan, Xi'an, Changsha, Hefei and Qingdao.
Compared with 2020, what has changed the internal pattern of the top ten? The Jiefang Daily and Shangguan News reporter interviewed Zhang Mizhi, deputy director of the Statistical Evaluation Research Office of the Shanghai Institute of Science.
【What is an Innovative City】
Innovative cities refer to cities with strong independent innovation capabilities, outstanding leading roles in scientific and technological support, high levels of sustainable economic and social development, and significant regional radiation driving effects. As a regional innovation highland, innovative cities play a vital role and are an important pillar of innovative national construction.
In order to further promote the optimal allocation of resources, at present, innovative cities are mainly oriented to prefecture-level cities, and Beijing Haidian District and Shanghai Yangpu District are included in the monitoring and evaluation as innovative urban areas, but due to the lack of urban data, they are not ranked.
The "Report" sets up an evaluation index system composed of 5 first-level indicators and 30 second-level indicators, including innovation governance, original innovation, technological innovation, achievement transformation and innovation driving force.
【Hangzhou, Suzhou, Hefei ranking significantly improved】
"While the top fifteen cities have not changed significantly, changes in their internal patterns are quietly coming." Zhang Mizhi said.
With the acceleration of the layout of the National Strategy for the Integration of the Yangtze River Delta, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Hefei in the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor have significantly improved their rankings compared with 2020, Hangzhou has risen from third in the country to second in the country, and the gap with Shenzhen, which ranks first, has narrowed from 10.89 points in 2020 to 6.35 points; Suzhou has risen from seventh to fifth in the country; Hefei has risen from thirteenth to ninth in the country, making it the most significantly changed city in the top fifteen. "The rapid improvement of the level of collaborative innovation in the Yangtze River Delta is empowering cities to build their own innovation systems."
Shenzhen is still leading the way, defending the title of the first place in the innovation ability of the national innovative city. In 2021, Shenzhen's R&D investment in the whole society accounted for 5.46%, more than 20,000 state-level high-tech enterprises, and the number of PCT international patent applications ranked first among cities in China. According to the "14th Five-Year Plan" released by it, by 2025, Shenzhen's total economic volume will exceed 4 trillion yuan, the added value of strategic emerging industries will exceed 1.5 trillion yuan, and the proportion of R&D investment in the whole society will reach about 5% of the regional GDP, that is, 200 billion yuan.
Previously, in the "2021 Global Innovation Index Report" released by the World Intellectual Property Organization and internationally renowned research institutions, Hangzhou's ranking in the global science and technology cluster rose to 21st, the best ranking in history. The number of state key laboratories in Hangzhou has increased to 14, and the four provincial laboratories of Zhijiang Laboratory, West Lake Laboratory, Liangzhu Laboratory and Lakeside Laboratory have formed an important strategic scientific and technological force system in Hangzhou, and enterprises and institutions in Hangzhou have won 29 2020 National Science and Technology Awards, with a new number of record highs in the past year. In October 2021, Hangzhou was selected as the "Most Attractive Chinese City in the Eyes of Foreign Talents" for 11 consecutive years, second only to Beijing and Shanghai.
In 2021, Suzhou's total R&D investment in the whole society will account for 3.8% of GDP, ranking first in Jiangsu Province. The effective number of national high-tech enterprises exceeded 10,000 for the first time, and the total number ranked fifth in the country. Last year, Suzhou was successfully approved as the National New Generation Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Development Pilot Zone, the National Biopharmaceutical Technology Innovation Center, and the National Third Generation Semiconductor Technology Innovation Center, becoming the only prefecture-level city in the country with two state-level technology innovation centers. The country's first regional transformation center for advanced technological achievements, the Yangtze River Delta Transformation Center, is also located in Suzhou.
In 2021, in the "Science and Technology Daily" combed through the ten major breakthroughs in Chinese science and technology, Hefei dominated four seats, namely "Nine Chapters" and "Zu Chongzhi", achieving quantum superiority in two physical systems; the optical storage time reached 1 hour, an important step towards a quantum U disk; the "artificial sun" set a new world record, achieving a repeatable 120 million °C burning for 101 seconds; proving the Keller geometric core conjecture and solving the "suspense" of the mathematical community for more than 60 years. There are more than 10 large scientific devices in Hefei, under construction and pre-research. In recent years, Hefei's financial investment in science and technology has accounted for more than 10% of the general public budget expenditure, which is among the top in the major cities in the country.