Importance of companies

The municipal government of Shanghai is well aware of the importance of companies' vibrancy to create innovation, and in late November it released the revised version of the regulation for improving Shanghai's business environment.

It underlined that the business environment should be more friendly for boosting innovation and entrepreneurship. More favorable talent policies will also be introduced, while the construction of innovation clusters will be further supported.

All these measures aim to further stimulate innovation activity in the city, according to the revised regulation, which will take effect on Jan 1,2026.

At the same time, Shanghai will improve its business environment to attract more foreign companies, which have already played an important role in the city's upgrading, according to the city's commission of commerce.

Luo Zhisong, chief economist at the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, said multinational companies' investment in Shanghai has become stronger and more high-level in recent years, despite headwinds and complexities in the global market.

Statistics and examples support Luo's assessment.

In 2024, a total of 75.4 percent of foreign capital that landed in Shanghai was devoted to the advanced manufacturing sector, including integrated circuits, biomedicine and AI. This compares with 37.2 percent in 2020. A total of 623 multinational companies have set up their regional R&D centers in the city, of which 19 are global R&D centers.

On Nov 6, German optics giant Zeiss announced that it would acquire a land in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone to build its Greater China headquarters. Covering 40,000 square meters, the new project will involve a total infrastructure investment of more than 600 million yuan, marking the company's largest single such investment in China to date.

Techniques Surfaces Holdings, a subsidiary of France's HEF Groupe and a leader in surface treatment technologies, announced on Nov 5 that its one and only Asian technology center will be located in Songjiang district of southwestern Shanghai. Focusing on environmentally friendly surface engineering technologies, it's estimated the center will churn out 280 million yuan of industrial value once in operation.