Shanghai Weekly Bulletin (Issue 71, No.4, November 2024）​

1. Shanghai Vows to Promote High-quality Development of New Materials Industry

Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, together with other three municipal departments, recently issued the Shanghai Special Plan for Accelerating the Development of Materials Intelligent Engines (2025-2027). The document proposes 15 measures in five aspects, including building the foundation for intelligent engines, empowering the development with shared platforms, accelerating industrial innovation, improving the supply of production factors, and adopting guarantee measures. 

2. Shanghai Promotes Pilot Registration and Evidence Documentation of Data IPRs  

Shanghai Intellectual Property Administration and Shanghai Data Bureau recently issued the Interim Measures of Shanghai for the Registration and Evidence Documentation of Intellectual Property Rights for Data Products. The regulation clarifies the definition of intellectual property rights (IPRs) for data products, as well as the application methods and materials, registration review, the change, revocation and cancellation of registration, and registration validity period. The regulation will come into effect on December 8, 2024.

3. Shanghai Issues Rules for the Administration of Medical Device Business

Shanghai Municipal Medical Products Administration recently issued the Implementation Rules of Shanghai for the Supervision and Administration of Medical Device Business. The document further refines the provisions on the license application process, medical device automatic sales machines, the space requirements for business premises and warehouses, and the supervision and administration of third-party logistics companies for medical device business, which have not been clarified in superior laws. 

4. Lingang Updates Policy Measures to Support Headquarters Economy 

The Administration of Lingang Special Area issued on November 17, 2024 the revised Several Measures to Support the Development of Headquarters Economy in Lingang Special Area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone. According to the document, policy support will be provided to innovative enterprise headquarters recognized by the Office of the Leading Group of Strategic Emerging Industries of Shanghai, as well as regional headquarters of multinational companies, foreign-funded R&D centers, trade company headquarters, and private enterprise headquarters recognized by the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, and corporate headquarters and functional headquarters recognized by the Administration of Lingang Special Area. The measures will take effect on December 18, 2024 and remain valid until October 31, 2027.

1. Shanghai Magnolia Silver Award 2024 Presented

The presentation ceremony of Shanghai Magnolia Silver Award 2024 was held on the afternoon of November 23 at the Grand Halls. 50 outstanding foreign nationals were presented the award for their significant contributions to the city’s development in the fields of trade, finance, technology, shipping, healthcare, education, culture, sports, agriculture and others. They come from 18 countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea,the  Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The Index Report for Smart Manufacturing Development in Yangtze River Delta Cities (2023 Edition) was recently released. Shanghai ranked first among all cities in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) with a total score of 301 points. Smart manufacturing development in the YRD cities presents a pattern with Shanghai as the core leader, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Wuxi as three strong drivers, and Nanjing, Ningbo, Hefei and Changzhou as four key supporters. 

【Forum & Exhibition】

1. 2024 MBI Innovation and Development Forum to Kick off 

【Competitive Event】

1: Officials with the National Bureau of Statistics answered questions at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office to introduce national economic operations in October 2024 - How do you think about the investment situation in October? You mentioned that the cumulative growth of infrastructure investment picked up for the first time in October. Can the uptrend be sustained in the future? Besides, what is the impact of the "two new" and "two key" policies on investment?

A1: Investment is also a very important part of economic operations. Based on our knowledge of the economic situation in the first ten months, although real estate investment is declining, China's investment has continued to expand, driven by rapid growth in manufacturing investment and large project investment after the policies of large equipment renewal and industry upgrade were introduced. These policies have supported stable investment growth and created favorable conditions for high-quality economic development. During the first ten months, we can observe the following economic trends:

First, the overall growth of investment is stable. In the first 10 months, fixed asset investment (excluding farmers) increased by 3.4% year-on-year, and remained stable at 3.4% for three consecutive months, with a clear stabilization trend. We have seen that investment has generally declined since the beginning of this year, but has remained basically stable in the past three months. The supporting role of large project investment is relatively obvious. In the first 10 months, the investment in projects with a planned total investment of more than 100 million yuan increased by 7.1% year-on-year, driving the growth of total investment by 3.8 percentage points, and promoting stable investment growth.

Second, the policy effect has been strengthened. The large-scale equipment renewal policy has started to show its economic effect. In the first ten months, investment in the purchase of equipment and tools increased by 16.1% year-on-year, much faster than the total investment growth, accounting for 14.8% of total investment, and its contribution to total investment growth exceeded 60%. With the continued progress of the "two key" construction, infrastructure investment has picked up. From January to October, infrastructure investment increased by 4.3% year-on-year, 0.2 percentage points faster than the previous month, the first rebound since March 2024. With the introduction of various policies and the recent progress of local government debt reductions, local governments will have more resources to strengthen infrastructure construction. From this perspective, there are solid conditions and foundations for the stable growth of infrastructure investment.

Third, investment in manufacturing grew rapidly. Driven by industrial upgrade, investment in equipment manufacturing and consumer goods manufacturing has posted robust growth and supported growth in manufacturing investment. In the first ten months, investment in manufacturing grew 9.3% year-on-year, 0.1 percentage point faster than the January-September period, with investment in equipment manufacturing and consumer goods manufacturing growing by 9.1% and 15% respectively.

Fourth, high-tech industry saw vigorous investment growth. Local regions are actively fostering and developing new quality productive forces and increasing investment in sci-tech innovations, and these efforts have driven growth in high-tech industry investment. In the first ten months, high-tech industry investment increased by 9.3% year-on-year, significantly faster than the growth of total investment. Among them, investment in aerospace and equipment manufacturing increased 34.5%, investment in professional technical services grew 32%, and investment in R&D and design services rose 11%.

In general, China's investment growth has remained stable recently, and the investment structure has continued to be optimized. In the next stage, as existing policies and new policies start to show effect, investment fund guarantees and project support will gradually improve, and investment is expected to continue to grow.