Songjiang University Town is home to seven leading universities including Shanghai International Studies University.

Plans to turn Songjiang new town into a hub for scientific innovation are moving forward thanks to an increasing number of investment projects, totaling 110 billion yuan ($17.2 billion) so far this year, aimed at high-end industries relating to science and technology, and a wide range of other areas. These investment projects will see Songjiang become a beacon of scientific innovation in the future.

On Sept 28, the Songjiang district government signed agreements for three major infrastructure projects, 10 cultural tourism and major public support projects, and 12 industrial projects, marking a milestone in Songjiang new town's development.

This year, Songjiang new town is seeing an influx of new investment projects covering a wide range of fields. According to the Songjiang district government, the total investment amount determined for 2021 will be around 157 billion yuan.

Songjiang new town will become a key location for science and technology, a transportation hub, and a digital and smart town. Meanwhile, it will not only be a place that blends profound history and modern civilization, but an ecological area showing the harmonious relationship between humans and nature, according to Cheng Xiangmin, Songjiang's Party secretary.

Songjiang new town details its goals and tasks in its 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25). By 2025, the GDP of the new town is forecast to be between 260-300 billion yuan, and by 2035 between 500-600 billion yuan.

In the plan, Songjiang new town stressed the strategically important role of the Yangtze River Delta G60 Science & Technology Innovation Valley in its development. The G60 valley is a regional initiative, which mainly involves the scientific and technological strengths of nine cities in the delta region.

To boost scientific innovation, Songjiang has planned infrastructure projects related to high-end industries based on the G60 valley.

To pursue integrated development of industry and urban construction is heavily underscored in the city's "five new towns" building plan. Guided by this, Songjiang is also looking for better industrial layout so as to drive quality development in the new town.

According to Songjiang new town's plan, an industrial cluster worth around 100 billion yuan for electronic information, new materials, new energy vehicles and biomedicine, as well as a 10-billionyuan-level industrial cluster for integrated circuits, modern equipment and artificial intelligence, will be built.

The two industrial clusters will become important growth poles for Shanghai's high-quality growth, officials said.

Now, Songjiang new town has attracted a large number of hightech enterprises, and a host of innovative results were born as a result.

For instance, the first phase of the Tencent Yangtze River Delta AI Supercomputing Center came into operation in August, and construction of the second and third phases of the G60 Brain Intelligence S&T Innovation Base is well underway.

The new landmark of Songjiang, Rafael Sky City, a 1.6-kilometerlong complex built along the G60 Highway, has come into use, and will become the world's longest urban industry corridor when its second phase is completed, officials said.

Other significant industry projects include a supercomputing center, Shanghai super silicon semiconductor production facility and Haier Smart Valley. To empower the region's development, efforts will be made to further enhance the regional transportation network, a move to better connect the new town to the city's downtown areas and other new towns.

In addition to the extension of metro lines, a high-speed railway connecting Shanghai, Suzhou in Jiangsu province and Huzhou in Zhejiang province, is also under construction.

Meanwhile, more quality education and public health facilities and resources will be introduced into the region within the next five years.

Songjiang said it will continue to optimize its business environment so as to attract more enterprises to the region.