The Information Office of Shanghai Municipality held a press conference today (May 7), during which Ma Chunlei, deputy secretary-general of the municipal government and director of Shanghai Development and Reform Commission, gave a briefing on the “Action Plan to Promote New Infrastructure Construction in Shanghai (2020-2022).” Qiu Wenjin, deputy director of Shanghai Development and Reform Commission, Zhang Jianming, deputy director of Shanghai Commission of Economy and Informatization, Zhou Lan, deputy director of Shanghai Commission of Commerce, Cai Jun, first-level inspector of Shanghai Transportation Commission, and Wu Xiaohua, deputy director of the Administration Committee of the China (Shanghai) Free Trade Pilot Zone Lingang New Area, attended the press conference and answered questions from reporters.

Speeding up the construction of new infrastructure is an important way of expanding effective investment and empowering the development of the new economy. On April 27, the “Action Plan to Promote New Infrastructure Construction in Shanghai (2020-2022)” (hereinafter referred to as the “Action Plan”) was reviewed and approved at the executive meeting of the municipal government. The main contents are as following:

The current status of new infrastructure construction in Shanghai

In recent years, Shanghai has enhanced network infrastructure, data centers and computing platforms, and major science and technology infrastructure, with key initiatives for the development of science and technology innovation center, comprehensive national science center, new smart city, next-generation Internet demonstration city, and new-generation artificial intelligence innovation development pilot area. The city has been playing a leading role nationwide with these infrastructure facilities. First, the city’s network infrastructure development is leading in China. The city has achieved continuous coverage of 5G networks in 16 districts, and has built 15 industrial Internet platforms with national influence. More than 60,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have now joined the cloud platforms. Jing’an, Jiading, Yangpu, Hongkou and Putuo districts took the lead in carrying out the deployment of 1-million-node Internet of Things network in new urban areas. Second, the city’s scale of data centers and computing platforms is leading in China. So far, more than 120,000 racks have been set up in the city’s Internet data centers, making the city one of the leaders nationwide in terms of the utilization rate and service scale. The city’s big data platform has accumulated a total of 34 billion pieces of data from more than 200 units in the city, with the data scale generally leading in China. Third, the city’s capacity of major science and technology infrastructure is leading in China. Shanghai has built and is building 14 major national science and technology infrastructure projects, with the number of large facilities, investment amount and construction progress all leading in the country.

The main contents of the “Action Plan” on New Infrastructure Construction in Shanghai

The “Action Plan” is based on digitalization and industrialization, cross-sector integration, and high-end brand development. It focuses on the coordination between new and old infrastructure, urban and suburban infrastructure, construction and use, as well as coordination between the government and enterprises. The “Action Plan” proposes the guiding principle, action target, 25 tasks under four construction actions, as well as eight supporting measures, thus forming the 35-point action plan on new infrastructure construction.

First, the “Action Plan” has specified the key areas of new infrastructure construction with Shanghai characteristics. The plan focuses on the improvement of Shanghai’s urban functions and core competitiveness in the new era, as well as the requirements of the new economy. It specifies the four key areas in promoting new infrastructure construction with Shanghai characteristics. They are “new networks” based on new-generation network infrastructure; “new facilities” based on innovative infrastructure; “new platforms” based on integrated infrastructure such as artificial intelligence; and “new terminals” based on intelligent terminal infrastructure.

Secondly, the “Action Plan” has proposed the specific action target that is in line with Shanghai’s urban functions and positioning. In three years, the city will take the initiative to play an influential role in the following four aspects. Shanghai aims to be the first benchmark city with new-generation information infrastructure. Shanghai aims to be the first to own a cluster of world-leading comprehensive large-science facilities. Shanghai aims to be the first to build super large-scale urban public digital infrastructure with international influence. The city aims to be the first to build a first-class urban network of intelligent terminal facilities. By the end of 2022, Shanghai aims to become a globally leading city in terms of its scale of new infrastructure and innovation capacity.

Thirdly, the “Action Plan” has noted that the city shall make every effort to implement the Shanghai version of the “new infrastructure construction” through four actions. By gauging first-class standards, the city will plan the strategic layout of new networks, new facilities, new platforms and new terminals, and pull in strength to upgrade the energy level of the new infrastructure. The first batch of 48 major projects and engineering packages to be implemented in the next three years are expected to receive an estimated total investment of about 270 billion yuan.

1. Action on the construction of "new networks". The city shall keep abreast of the new round of global information technology changes and digital development trends, and take the lead in laying out the new generation of global leading network infrastructure. It mainly includes the following: constructing high-level 5G network and "Double Gigabit" fixed broadband network, speeding up the deployment of industrial internet clusters covering the entire internet, building more than 100 unmanned factories, production lines and workshops, and driving 150,000 enterprises to adopt cloud-based platforms; accelerating the scaled deployment of the next-generation internet; constructing new form of government portals and network security facilities; building global information and communication hubs.

2. Action on the construction of "new facilities". Based on the construction of science and technology innovation center and the "three industry highlands" — namely integrated circuits, artificial intelligence and biomedicine-the city shall continue to upgrade the capacity and level of science and technology as well as industrial innovation infrastructure. It mainly includes accelerating the construction of large facilities such as hard X-ray, and carrying out advance researches on the next generation of photon science facilities; striving for national support to plan for the new round of major scientific and technological infrastructure; constructing advanced industrial innovation infrastructure like electronic microscope center, advanced medical image integration innovation center and national innovation center for integrated circuit and equipment materials; mapping out the construction plan of major innovation platforms based on the direction of frontier scientific researches.

3. Action on the construction of "new platforms". The city shall make full use of the massive data resources from the megacity, build an all-factor system of data resources, and support all-round changes in urban governance. It mainly includes constructing a new generation of high-performance computing facilities and ultra-large-scale artificial intelligence computing and empowerment platforms. The city shall build a basic support platform for government services and social governance through online integrated platforms, and explore the construction of digital twin cities. The city shall build medical big data training facilities, and support artificial intelligence enterprises to conduct in-depth learning and other algorithm-training experiments. The city shall explore the construction of the inter-connected facility systems in the new Lingang Special Area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone and the intelligent brain project in the Yangtze River Delta region demonstration zone.

4. Action on the construction of "new terminals". Centered around the needs of fostering new economy and expanding new consumption, the city shall accelerate the intelligent transformation of terminal infrastructure such as commerce, transportation, logistics, medical care and education. It mainly includes scaled deployment of tens of millions of neuron perception nodes for social governance; adding 100,000 smart charging stations for electric vehicles; building a municipal-level public parking information platform; expanding intelligent last-mile delivery facilities; Promoting the expedited deployment of all kinds of smart retail terminals like intelligent vending machines, unmanned vending machines, intelligent micro grocery markets and smart recycling stations; constructing Internet+ medical infrastructure; cultivating benchmarking schools for the application of informatization in the education field; building intelligent “aerial and offshore” hubs; and optimizing the construction of urban intelligent logistics infrastructure.

Fourthly, the city shall unveil eight major policies around the Shanghai version of the "new infrastructure construction”. To advance the "new infrastructure construction" with Shanghai characteristics, the government should play a guiding role, the market should act as the main player, and major policy measures should serve as guarantees. The city will further strengthen policy coordination between municipal and district levels, and enhance guidance on encouraging innovative support methods, enhancing quota guarantee, promoting resource-opening, optimizing layout planning, improving rules and standards, and fostering market demand. These will help create a benign environment for social capital to increase investment in the construction of "new infrastructure".

In the next phase, Shanghai will make every effort to implement the 35-point action plan on new infrastructure construction, seizing the important opportunities brought by the construction of new infrastructures for industrial revival and upgrading. The city shall promote the construction of "new networks" such as 5G at a high level, maintain its international competitiveness of "new facilities", accelerate the construction of "new platforms" such as artificial intelligence, and improve the deployment of "new terminals" for social governance and services related to people's livelihood. By creating new supplies, spurring new demands and fostering new momentum, the city’s action plan will lay a new foundation for Shanghai to speed up the construction of a modern industrial system and create a new engine for high-quality economic development.