Shanghai city in East China recently released its top 100 list for innovation investments made by high- and new-technology companies in 2021, local media reported.

This category of dynamic concern was reportedly well represented by Shanghai Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and HiSilicon (Shanghai) Technologies Co Ltd, which were both on the list.

The top 100 high- and new-tech enterprises making sci-tech investments accounted for 34 percent of total investments conducted by all such businesses in Shanghai last year. However, collectively they only accounted for 0.59 percent of the total number of these companies.

Since 2016 – especially after the implementation of the Opinions on Accelerating the Development of High and New-tech Enterprises in Shanghai – the city's high- and new-tech enterprises have reportedly shown strong development strength and resilience.

Last year, the total number of such businesses in the city recognized by the municipal government – within a three-year assessment period – was 17,012, an increase of 145.2 percent compared with 6,938 in 2016. Estimates are there were 380 high-tech and new-tech enterprises per 10,000 business entities in 2020, ranking Shanghai first in China.

R&D investment made by these companies last year was 126.4 billion yuan ($19.76 billion), an increase of 13.9 percent year-on-year, accounting for 70 percent of the city's total R&D investment. They also generated a total of 111,100 invention patents.

It's widely believed that the high- and new-tech enterprises have become a driving force for Shanghai's continuing evolution as a science and technology innovation center.