Shanghai, 9 Sep (ZXS) -- Institutional Innovation Activates Industrial Upgrading "Free Trade Power" Cultivates Development Momentum
China News Agency reporter Li Shuzheng
Pass through the iconic "Seagull Gate" and enter the bonded area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (hereinafter referred to as Shanghai Free Trade Zone).
"The 10 years since the establishment of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone have been 10 years of innovation and transformation in Waigaoqiao." As an "old developer" in Pudong, Yu Yong, chairman of Shanghai Waigaoqiao Group Co., Ltd., talked about the past 10 years of the free trade zone, and "innovation and transformation" is the keyword he frequently mentions.
Innovation is to test the system and explore new ways for China's development, and the innovation results produced by this "test field" have also brought opportunities for transformation and upgrading for enterprises in the region.
As early as the 20s of the 90th century, as a window and bridgehead for foreign investment to enter China, Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone attracted a large number of enterprises engaged in trade and export processing. At that time, Flextronics Group, which was mainly engaged in machining business, was one of them.
Three years ago, relying on the policy innovation of the free trade zone and the development dividends of the Pudong construction leading the zone, Flextronics and Xerox reached the commissioned production cooperation of the "ultra-high-definition endoscope camera system" of medical devices with the help of the innovation of the "medical device registrant" (MAH) system in the free trade zone, and achieved mass production and delivery.
"It is this cooperation that allows us to find the transformation opportunity of intelligent manufacturing of medical devices." In an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Agency, Lai Dongwen, vice president of Chinese government affairs of Flextronics Group, said.
The MAH system was first implemented in the bonded area of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, providing a demonstration model for multinational medical device enterprises to choose localized production. More and more leading medical device companies are planning to carry out localized production trials and mass production in the bonded area of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone. "Our transformation and upgrading will also drive suppliers to improve quality and efficiency, thereby promoting the entire industrial chain towards high-quality development." Lai Dongwen said.
In Yu Yong's view, under the "blessing" of the free trade zone, the innovation and transformation of Waigaoqiao has always carried a "sense of urgency".
At a time when China is building a new development pattern in an all-round way, "if we only stick to the results, rather than transformation and upgrading on the basis of trade, we will definitely fade out of the historical stage." Yu Yong said that the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone, born and prosperous because of trade, no longer relies only on traditional industries such as trade logistics, but accelerates the construction of a new development pattern of "trade +".
Take the biomedical industry, one of the three leading industries in Shanghai, as an example. Starting from the import and export trade of biomedical and medical device products, Waigaoqiao has accelerated the expansion of the industrial chain of biomedical R&D, testing and production on the basis of the dual advantages of trade agglomeration and bonded functions, attracting more emerging enterprises to blossom.
Kingscon, a service provider in the field of life sciences, is one of them. The company mainly carries out two major types of business: in vitro cell models and recombinant viral vectors, and 80% of its customers are from overseas. Tan Hao, head of the laboratory of Shanghai Kingscon Biotechnology Co., Ltd., said in an exclusive interview that the import and export approval process for special items such as cells and human blood is long, and the policy is often uncertain, "If the product cannot be delivered on time, it will delay the customer's new drug research and development progress, and we will also lose orders." ”
"The experience of special item approval in bonded areas and the practice of innovative supervision are critical to our business." Tan said that in order to seize the window of rapid development of the global cell therapy industry, Kingscon expanded its research and development institutions to the bonded area of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, and in just one year, Kingscon's sales increased by more than 70%.
Official data shows that in 2022, the operating income of the biomedical industry in the bonded area of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone will account for nearly 1/3 of the whole city of Shanghai. Among the world's top ten medical device companies, 9 companies, including Medtronic, Abbott, Johnson & Johnson, Siemens, Bede, Roche Diagnostics, GE Healthcare, Stryker, and Boston Scientific, have invested and operated in bonded areas.
Yu Yong said that with the advancement of various institutional innovations in the free trade zone, the bonded zone with the Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone as the core is continuously improving its global resource allocation capabilities.
"The Shanghai Free Trade Zone has initially realized the transformation of institutional innovation advantages into functional leaps and industrial upgrading advantages, and its economic development has steadily moved towards high quality." Wang Guo, director of the Institute of Reform and Innovation of the Shanghai Academy of Development and Reform, said in an interview that the Shanghai Free Trade Zone is transforming institutional innovation into an unlimited driving force for high-quality development and continuing to cultivate new momentum for economic development. (End)