According to the newly released Nature Index 2025 Science Cities supplement, Chinese cities have appeared in more than half of the world's top ten scientific research centres for the first time. Beijing, in particular, remains at the forefront of global scientific cities, a position it has held since 2016.
Today's innovation in China is no longer confined to a few major cities, but is entering a new phase characterised by regional coordination, multi-level development and nationwide impact.
Coordinated regional development
Instead of independent development Beijing fully utilises its role as a centre of technological innovation and strengthens coordination with Tianjin a Hebei, which supports the continuous enhancement of innovation capacity in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, also known as „Jing-Jin-Ji“. Since the introduction of the national coordinated development strategy in February 2014, technological innovation in the region has been steadily increasing.
In the Zhongguancun Science Park area in Xiong'an New Area 11 institutions from Beijing integrating science, technology, finance and industrial research into a „one-stop service“ system that allows businesses to access high-quality innovation resources without leaving the area.
Similarly, the region Yangtze River Delta, including Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang a Anhui, Thanks to its strong industrial history, it is now providing new impetus for the creation of high-quality productive forces. High-tech enterprises in this area account for more than 30% of the national total. The National Innovation Centre par Excellence in the Delta has established strategic partnerships with more than 200 domestic and foreign universities and research institutions and has set up joint innovation centres with nearly 600 leading enterprises.
In southern China, the region Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) has experienced significant development in technological innovation. Nine major technological infrastructures and 31 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao joint laboratories have been established here, forming the basis of technological innovation in the GBA.
Supporting high-quality development
President Xi Jinping places great emphasis on promoting high-quality and coordinated regional development. It visits individual regions and organises symposiums to determine how regions can better leverage their comparative advantages, achieve complementarity, and improve the balance and coordination of development.
In recent years, China has deepened the implementation of its coordinated regional development strategy, with key areas such as Jing-Jin-Ji, Yangtze River Delta a GBA drive the overall level of innovation and high quality of the country's development.
For example, GBA, with less than 0.6% of the country's total land area, generates one-ninth of the total economic output and is among the most open and economically vibrant regions in China. It is focusing on new sectors such as the low-altitude economy and biomanufacturing, and plans to establish five new industrial clusters worth 100 billion yuan each, while promoting the modernisation and intelligent transformation of key industries such as electronic information and advanced engineering.
At the recently concluded Central Economic Work Conference, China confirmed the development of international technology innovation centres in Beijing (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei), Shanghai (Yangtze River Delta, Long River Delta) and GBA. According to Gong Chao According to the National Institute of Innovation and Development at Tongji University, the expansion of these centres from individual cities to wider urban agglomerations represents a strategic upgrade and demonstrates China's emphasis on regional coordination in building innovation hubs.
