On May 21, Hong Yin, former Secretary of the Party Committee of Nanjing University, delivered a keynote speech on "Construction of Innovative Region in Yangtze River Delta" at the Seminar on Comprehensive Development Strategies for China's Top 100 Cities in 2021 held in Beijing.

The following is the full text of the speech.

Honorable leaders and experts, Shen Hanyao has just made a very good report, and I will echo him, mainly on the issue of innovative construction in the Yangtze River Delta integrated region. Shen Hanyao and I were the same supervisor and classmate when we were graduate students at Nanjing University, and he is now more active than I am, and now he is pointing out the way to the future, and I think he points out the way to the future with scientific basis, and it is very new. Today's report is devoted to the four industrial revolutions, the four industries, and there are so many new ideas. I have always quoted some of his ideas in my speeches today to show my support.

But today I am mainly talking about one of the important elements of the integration of the Yangtze River Delta, that is, the integration of innovation. Now our national strategy has several issues are related, one is that we put forward the outline of the basic realization of modernization of the Fifth Plenary Session, put forward to emphasize a, to build the core position of innovation in the modernization, and clear to 2035 our country in the basic realization of modernization, we want to enter the forefront of the innovative countries, the goal is very important, it is not only to enter into an innovative country, but also to enter into the innovative country, the goal is very important, it is not only to enter into the innovative country, but also to enter into the innovative country, it is also to enter into the innovative country. This goal is very important, it is not just to enter to become an innovative country, but also to enter the forefront of innovative countries.

You want the whole country to enter the forefront of innovative countries, it is necessary to establish a number of innovative regions, and this innovative region at present, the most promising can become an innovative region, is the integration of the Yangtze River Delta. Because our country has taken the integration of the Yangtze River Delta as a national strategy, and the national strategy requires the Yangtze River Delta to enter the forefront of modernization, and as a forefront of modernization, it is only natural that it should take up the responsibility of establishing an innovative region.

Regarding the innovative region, I think there are two major differences between the international and domestic studies and the construction of the innovative region of the Yangtze River Delta we are talking about. First, the scale of the innovative region, the scope and scale of the innovative regions in the world are not as large as that of the YRD region we are talking about, and the scope of their regions is definitely not as large as that of the YRD region. At present, we are clear that a few innovative regions in China, one is Zhongguancun, one is Shenzhen, but also not as large as our Yangtze River Delta region, this is the scale of the atmosphere.

Scale of the problem of studying a region is a very important issue, if a separate Shanghai, there is no doubt that it can be an innovative region, but we specifically want to do an innovative region, can not just refer to the city, it should be included in the urban and rural areas within the region, must be included in the center and periphery to be within the area of such a region, you will be able to choose it is an innovative region, you can not isolate it, you can not choose it is an innovative region, you can not isolate it is an innovative region, you can not isolate it is an innovative region, you can not isolate it is an innovative region. You can't isolate a certain city that is an innovative region, it can only be said to be an innovative city, which is something that I think should be made clear.

The second point needs to be clear, we have the theory of innovative region is to define it is an innovative capacity is similar to the region, and we are now talking about the Yangtze River Delta region, including the three provinces and one city, the three provinces and one city itself exists in the regional development, scientific and technological capacity of the great imbalance. For example, the Yangtze River Delta three provinces and one city this year's government work report data, the Yangtze River Delta in 2020 program goals, that is, R & D investment in the proportion of GDP Shanghai is 4.1, Zhejiang is 2.9, Anhui is only 2.34, and Jiangsu is 2.72, which is to say that a three-province and one-city scope of the R & D investment in the proportion of GDP on the gap is very large. So we say that the construction of innovative region, in the Yangtze River Delta is to be in the regional development is very unbalanced, scientific and technological capacity there is a big gap in the construction of innovative region, if this innovative region can be built up, that is, the world can be said to be more than a typical, a model.

I think the key to building an innovative region in the Yangtze River Delta region is the integration of innovation. I think the key here is to build up three major systems, first, to build the Yangtze River Delta region can become an important base for national basic science and high technology research, relying on these knowledge and innovation sectors, can create a number of ministerial level, become a source of original innovation of scientific research results. Because our country has learned a lesson from the bitter experience, faced with the industrial chain of some developed countries to decouple with us, especially in their neck-breaking technology to jam us China, this is and our self-reliance and self-improvement of the issue becomes very important. Where is the base for self-reliance and self-improvement of scientific research? It must be established in innovative regions. In China, besides Beijing, it is the Yangtze River Delta.

From the research universities, the top universities, one is like Beijing Peking University, Tsinghua University, and another is the East China Five Schools, which represents the top teaching and research institutes in China. Therefore, the first thing that an innovative region needs is for the five East China universities in the Yangtze River Delta to be able to demonstrate their technological research capabilities and provide original innovations.

Secondly, to build a technological innovation system, enterprises in this region should not only be the main body of adopting new technologies, but also the main body of researching and developing new technologies, and should cultivate cadres of innovative enterprises with international influence, independent intellectual property rights and brands, and a large number of innovative enterprises and innovative entrepreneurs should emerge. This I think should become our Yangtze River Delta region to perceive the gap with Shenzhen, because Shenzhen a street can appear a few world-class high-tech technology enterprises. Our current Yangtze River Delta region of these enterprises, my assessment is that is on the plateau, but no peak, we feel that the Yangtze River Delta's biggest problem, to build a peak on the plateau, and the country than the ability of science and technology innovation belongs to the plateau, but compared with Shenzhen and Zhongguancun, the lack of peak. This is what we need to solve in the middle of the integration of innovation.

Third, the establishment of a modern industrial system. Whether an innovative region can be formed will ultimately come down to whether there is a high-tech level, independent and controllable modern industrial system. My definition of a modern industrial system in the Yangtze River Delta region has two points, the first is to form groups, that is, industrial clusters. Second, to form a chain, that is, the chain of the chain, that is, the formation of industrial chain. First of all, the group, with the help of a number of world manufacturing clusters, which is required by the 19th National Congress, put forward our country with the help of a number of world-class industrial clusters, where are the world-class industrial clusters? I think it should be built up in the Yangtze River Delta. But now it seems that only the cluster is not enough, but also to form a chain, to form this industrial chain, that is, we now put forward a phrase called industrial chain modernization, that is, in the Yangtze River Delta must be formed to modernize the industrial chain.

In my opinion, the reason why the YRD region has introduced more foreign investment and higher quality in the past is that the YRD region originally had the most complete industrial supply chain in the country, and thus had the advantage of a complete supply chain in terms of direct investment. But now more and more trade wars between China and the United States have actually turned into a war of science and technology. An important path for the United States to impede China's technological progress is to utilize the industrial chain to cut off the supply of intermediary products and markets for the most high-tech enterprises in China, which, coupled with the current Xin Guan epidemic, has led to the disruption of a number of global industrial chains. The Yangtze River Delta can be said to be the region most affected by this, and therefore also puts forward the requirements of the industry chain reorganization, the Yangtze River Delta region in terms of the reorganization of the industry chain, that is, to build a new pattern of development, shaping the opportunities for new competitive advantages, which includes the core technology and key technologies of the industry chain links, to be transferred from foreign countries to the domestic, to the Yangtze River Delta. This requires the deployment of industrial chain and innovation chain on the basis of the original and complete supply chain in the whole region, that is, the Yangtze River Delta region to rely on the integration of industrial chain and innovation chain to establish an autonomous and controllable industrial chain.

In my recent research, I feel that we in the Yangtze River Delta have returned to the industrial chain and deployed the innovation chain, and one of the most important issues is to study the chain of the industrial chain, that is, many of our new-generation industrial chain should be more settled in the Yangtze River Delta, or that we in the Yangtze River Delta should cultivate more modern industrial chain, which is what I said that we are now going to borrow the three major systems of the modern regional innovation system. This is what I mean when I say that we now need to borrow the three systems of a modern regional innovation system, namely, the knowledge innovation system, the technological innovation system, and the modern industrial system, which are the key points to be solved by the integration of innovation in YRD.

According to such a requirement, I think different regions have different resource endowments, so different regions have different comparative advantages in innovation. Therefore, in the face of different comparative advantages, our key problem is to solve the formation of an industry, the formation of an overall competitive advantage, the current comparative advantage of innovation factors in the Yangtze River Delta, I think that Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, they have a high degree of internationalization, attracting international innovation factors, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Hefei, are rich in scientific and educational resources, with the ability of basic research and original innovation. Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou and Hefei are all rich in science and education resources and have the ability of basic research and original innovation. Therefore, when such a group of cities compete with other cities, the competition in the YRD region is characterized by cooperation and competition as mentioned by Shen Hanyao just now, and the competition is now characterized by competition for innovation factors, but how to compete for innovation factors? I think there should be a hierarchy, not to grab the same elements, we compete at different levels, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou, Hefei, to grab more international innovation elements, international talents, international high-tech elements. And other cities can be said to compete in the domestic innovation elements, to be divided into levels.

Jiangsu's southern Jiangsu, Zhejiang's east Zhejiang region, economically developed, the status of technology innovation services of enterprises is prominent, the transformation of new technologies is strong, Jiangsu's northern Jiangsu, Zhejiang's west Zhejiang, Anhui's vast areas, although the homogeneity of the region in the innovation capacity of the existence of large gaps, but these areas it may become a science and innovation center of the vast hinterland, but also can become a base for the industrialization of high-tech technology. Therefore, I think the relationship between the innovation center and the periphery of the Yangtze River Delta region is still very clear, and the Yangtze River Delta region should form their innovations according to their respective comparative advantages and in the middle of cooperation and innovation.

In my research on the integration of innovation in the Yangtze River Delta, I think there are several problems to be solved, one of which is to form a mechanism for cooperation and innovation, the other is to solve the regional integration of the industrial chain and the innovation chain, and the third one is to solve the openness of the innovative region, which is to open up, not to be closed, and not only open up to the international community, but also open up to the region. I would like to talk about one issue in particular, that is, the issue of growing the core of the Yangtze River Delta core area, we are now talking about several regions, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay Area, Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the Yangtze River Delta Integration, the four major regions of the Yangtze River Delta, is characterized by its center is prominent, the core of the core area is prominent, and the core of the other regions is not prominent. So we have sufficient conditions for the integration of the Yangtze River Delta. But where is the problem? When there were only 16 cities in the YRD, its center, Shanghai, had no problems and was able to bring them together. Just now Shen Hanyao used data to illustrate the Yangtze River Delta is now three provinces and one city, Shanghai can bring three provinces and one city? Obviously it can't. Because Shanghai's GDP only accounts for 17% of the total amount of the Yangtze River Delta, Shanghai alone can not bring the entire three provinces and one city of regional development.

What to do? How to enhance its center? There are only two routes, one is the red line (sound), Shanghai will be able to attract the development of the surrounding areas of the elements to Shanghai, impossible. The other is to enhance the core area of Shanghai, expanding the core area of Shanghai's kernel. Today you come up with a list of the top 100 cities out, I just temporarily dealt with it, according to your list, the Yangtze River Delta cities in the Yangtze River Delta to enter the top 100 of the top 10 of the five cities, the top 20 of the six cities, the top 30 of the nine cities, the top 40 of the 11 cities, the top 50 of the 17 cities, in fact, I think that the top 50 of the 17 cities in the Yangtze River Delta is the core area of the Yangtze River Delta. Shen Hanyao proposed to dual-core, of course, this is also a new idea, no matter how to say that he is pointing to a nuclear, Shanghai, a nuclear can not be pulled, it is necessary to the entire Yangtze River Delta into the top 50 of the 17 municipal feet, which is the core of a core area. So I think our future research, is how to enhance the core of the Yangtze River Delta, to the top 50 of the 17 cities together to become the core area to cultivate, to drive the development of the entire Yangtze River Delta. Of course, I will talk about another issue later, the introduction of innovative cities, I think now the top 50 cities in the Yangtze River Delta, 17 cities, is the focus of our innovative city construction. This is the scope of the kernel.

The second is the core elements of the core. What kind of elements will the core of the YRD region use to drive the neighboring cities. What is the core element in the construction of innovative region? In the past, Shanghai as the core area of the Yangtze River Delta, its core elements are industrial products and markets, and now under the world trend of science and technology innovation relying on new discoveries in science, the core elements have been transformed into innovative elements, especially the scientific and educational elements of the scientific and technological innovation center formed by the agglomeration of the center and its results, the scientific and technological innovation center as a kernel will not be able to attract Shanghai, Shen Hanyao has just talked about a dragon, and I use the term "science and technology innovation corridor", which means a corridor that runs from Hangzhou to Shanghai, to Nanjing, to Hefei and to the other cities in the region. Shanghai, to Nanjing, to Hefei formed by the science and innovation corridor, because this line it concentrates most of our strongest universities in China, in addition to Beijing Peking University, Tsinghua two, we are five, five schools in East China, which is the leader. Now we have a new term called double first-class universities, this double first-class universities in the Yangtze River Delta region, which is the most concentrated, double first-class universities currently have more than 20 in our line. So in Shen Hanyao's words, it's a dragon, and in my words, it's a science and innovation corridor, and that's what the core area of the Yangtze River Delta can provide, and that's what it can provide in terms of innovation. We want to build an innovative region in the Yangtze River Delta, or the basic requirements for innovation integration.

When we talk about the core area of science and technology innovation corridor, the key is how to build the science and innovation corridor. I put forward the concept that we need to build the core area of science and innovation in the Yangtze River Delta according to such a positioning of the Science and Innovation Corridor, to build such a way of thinking, it is necessary to solve a problem, innovation policy co-location, in order to give full play to the role of science and innovation centers, co-location is four, the first is the co-location of science and technology policy, the second, scientific and technological achievements of the transformation of the benefit-sharing mechanism of the co-location of the city, and the third, scientific and technological talents flexible mobility mechanism of co-location, the fourth, building universal public scientific research, the same city. Fourth, the construction of a common public research platform co-location, which can be said to be the four major elements of innovation integration in the Yangtze River Delta, science and technology innovation co-location is the basis of integration.

Next I would like to talk about the construction of innovative cities, I mainly want to talk about the construction of the innovation level, I want to create a concept, we have a concept of development level in the regional economy, I want to change the development level to the innovation level today, because this is an innovation center. So in the middle of the construction of innovative regions and the construction of innovation integration, we need to focus on the innovation level. If a region doesn't have an innovation level, it doesn't have innovation resources, it doesn't have innovation sources. The construction of our innovation level, the construction of innovative cities, is to solve the problem of these innovation sources, which is the problem of innovation integration that we usually talk about.

There are two types of innovative cities, one is the high-tech innovation center, which is the basic research center as well as the high-tech R&D center. The second is R&D centers of new technologies, which are mainly high-tech R&D centers and headquarters of high-tech industrial companies. In the Yangtze River Delta region, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Hefei, the primary innovative cities created are the centralized types, which are mainly bases for providing original innovations.

The second type is like Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou in Jiangsu, some cities like this, they have a good industrial foundation, industrial technology innovation in the country has a certain impact, these cities have been approved as a pilot innovative city. Therefore, the direction of our construction should be like Shenzhen, with policies, institutions and mechanisms to promote the entry of innovative resources, highlight the research and development of new technologies, and promote the industrialization of high-tech achievements.

I think if we judge whether a city can become an innovative city, the key is a few things: one is the high chance of success of scientific and technological innovations in an innovative city. Secondly, the success rate of science and technology entrepreneurship in an innovative city is high. Thirdly, the success rate of transforming into current production is high. Therefore, I would like to summarize the characteristics of an innovative city in a few words, one is to have a good innovation infrastructure. Secondly, gathering leading universities and research institutes in China, even up to the international level. Third, it has a concentration of scientific and technological innovation platforms and carriers. Fourth, it has a livable environment to gather high-end innovation and entrepreneurial talents. Fifth, to have a good education and training system. Lastly, the formation of hardware and software environment to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship. Because of time constraints I will say this, thank you!

(Arranged by Walton Economic Institute based on the recording of Hong Yinxing's speech)