At the 2023 Hongqiao International Central Business District Investment Promotion Conference held on May 25, Changning unveiled its characteristic life and health industry. 

With the two strategic endowments of Greater Hongqiao and Digital transformation, Changning has obvious regional advantages, convenient comprehensive transportation, high-end talent accumulation, deep digital accumulation, and strong innovation atmosphere, gradually forming a life science innovation function focusing on high-end research and development, echoing with Zhangjiang Pharmaceutical Valley from east to west, Complementing with Suzhou BioBAY from north to south, forming a good pattern of staggered development and collaborative innovation.

Changning is committed to building a demonstration zone for innovative development of life and health in the Yangtze River Delta. It will strengthen the three major functions of the origin of digital intelligence medical innovation, the hub of pharmaceutical and equipment commercial circulation, and the investment and business cooperation reception hall; deeply implement four major actions: accelerating the gathering of high-quality enterprises, creating distinctive landmarks by classification, building an industrial ecosystem by system, and continuously optimizing the business environment.

Efforts will be made to gather and form five major carrier platforms around leading enterprises.

Shanghai’s Hongqiao International Open Hub has shown remarkable development and achievements over the past two years.

The gross domestic product of the Hongqiao International Open Hub’s “one core and two belts” area, covering 7,000 square kilometers in total, grew to 2.69 trillion yuan (US$387.7 billion) in 2022 from 2.3 trillion yuan in 2020.

It indicated that the hub last year contributed almost 10 percent of the combined economic output of the three provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui, as well as the city of Shanghai, which a significant contribution is considering that the area occupies only less than 2 percent of the region’s total land.

In particular, the Hongqiao International Central Business District, as the core area of the hub, has seen a comprehensive acceleration of major economic growth indicators, with continued improvement in display, leadership and competitiveness.

In 2022, the CBD’s tax revenue rose 15.2 percent, with the actual foreign investment amount doubling and an 8.6 percent growth in the total import and export volume compared to the previous year.

The district also lured nearly 130 billion yuan in key investment last year, growing by over 60 percent. It is becoming a new benchmark for the rapid development of the Yangtze River Delta region and a new landmark for two-way opening-up.

Edited by Shanghai Daily