Boasting the home of leading unicorns in the fast-growing digital industry, such as Xiaohongshu and Bilibili, Shanghai's Yangpu district is hoping to attract innovative companies from the United Kingdom, the mayor of the district told an audience in London on Tuesday.

Speaking at a promotional conference held at China Exchange, Zhou Haiying, mayor of Yangpu district, said: "Yangpu had a long history of business cooperation with British companies back in the 19th century and later became the cradle of New China's domestic industry, and now we come abroad to showcase our transformation and invite British companies to come to develop in Yangpu."

Located in the northeastern part of Shanghai, Yangpu has a rich industrial heritage, such as old factories and warehouses on the 15.5-kilometer riverfront along the city's Huangpu River.

In 1883, a British company opened Yangshupu Waterworks on the riverfront, which became the first water supply plant in China and was, at the time, the largest of its kind in East Asia. Later, various factories were built in the area.

Though the water plant is still in use after several rounds of upgrades, many of the factories have been deserted, and in recent years the district has tried to transform its industrial legacy into workplaces and parks.

The urban renovation included three of China's major unicorn companies building their headquarters in the riverside area.

The office buildings for Douyin, a short video platform with more than 600 million daily active users, Meituan, the country's largest provider of on-demand food and retail delivery service, and Bilibili, China's equivalent of YouTube, are expected to be completed by 2026.

In addition, some 7,000 companies in the digital economy sector and more than 3,600 companies in the creative and design industry have already set foot in Yangpu, according to Zhou.

One of the reasons for companies choosing Yangpu is the district's high-caliber human resources – it is home to 10 universities where 180,000 college students graduate every year.

"The fresh graduates have injected vitality and dynamics in the district and provide companies with continuous momentum of development," said Zhou, adding that those higher education institutes provide cutting-edge research for local companies in areas such as artificial intelligence, green technologies, and biopharma.

Bao Ling, minister of China's embassy in the UK, and Daniel Brennan, a member of the House of Lords legislative chamber, attended the event along with dozens of business representatives from both China and the UK.