Focusing on urban innovation, sharing innovative ideas, conveying technological trends, and exploring creative paths……, Nanjing Innovation Week 2021, known as an upgraded version of Davos, will kick off from June 21-25. At that time, based on the theme of “City Innovation in the New Development Pattern”, innovative talents from around the world will once again start the “Innovation Moment”.

As a comprehensive innovation conference in Nanjing in recent years with the highest standard, most extensive coverages, and most prominent achievements, Innovation Week has added new impetus to Nanjing's efforts to build an innovative city with global influence and has enabled the world to understand the city innovation.

Nanjing, an ancient capital city, shows new meteorology of high-quality development with a global vision of innovation.

The “door” opening to innovation gets wider

Openness is the foundation of innovation. Since 2019, Nanjing has been expanding its “circle of friends” for innovation. It has promoted innovation cooperation with a wider range, more profound level, and wider field: a high level of “going out” in connection with global resources and a strong “bringing in” to promote independent innovation.

On 22 June 2020, the “Purple Mountain Innovation Conference” welcomed more than 4,000 guests from 44 countries and regions online and offline, and the online platform attracted more than 16 million viewers and 200 million interactions. The 2nd “China-Europe Innovation Forum” was held in Jiangning Development Zone on 25 June, with the theme of “Innovation Lights up the Future of Cities”. Nobel price winners, European city mayors, internationally renowned academicians, experts and professors, renowned entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and other guests from home and abroad will discuss urban innovation through offline and online approaches.

2021 Nanjing Innovation Week will feature six types of events and more than 100 activities, which will build a platform for exchange and cooperation that integrates technology foresight, open integration, application guidance, and project implementation, creating an upgraded version of Nanjing's “Davos” for innovation development.

The “fruits” of innovation are becoming more and more fragrant

Thus, the innovation promotion framework with Nanjing's characteristics is gradually taking shape, with the cultivation of high-tech enterprises as the top priority in constructing a famous innovation city and the formation of an economic growth mode with innovation as the main driving force.

The digital economy ecosystem is taking shape, and the digital economy highland is rising in Jianye District in Nanjing.

Jiangning District in Nanjing won first place in the city construction index, level index, and development index in 2020 in terms of the construction of a city famous for innovation.

Xuanwu District in Nanjing has built a “big ecological incubation service platform” and explored the “Xuanwu sample” for the transformation of the results of international projects.

A report card best shows the results of Nanjing's innovation over the past three years. In 2019, the Innovation Week achieved 215 results, with a contracted amount of 88 billion yuan. In 2020, even under the influence of the pandemic, Nanjing Innovation Week reached 346 signed projects or cooperation intentions, with a total investment of more than 108 billion yuan. This year, 19 “rooted” countries, including Russia, South Korea, and Singapore, will join us, and 52 country-specific cooperation events will be held.

An “innovative” Nanjing is taking on a new life, and the “fruit” of “innovation” is becoming more and more fragrant.

Innovation “thinking” is getting deeper and deeper

Innovation Week, which has lasted for three years, has injected momentum into Nanjing's economic development. But Nanjing's thinking about innovation is far from stopping.

The vision of innovation has to become broader. Internationalization is a must for building an innovative city with global influence. As the capital city of Jiangsu province, Nanjing must have a big picture to anchor its development and a big ambition to promote innovation. To attract wealth, wisdom, and technology, the city's international “display” has been enhanced.

Nanjing still has the potential to position itself for development from an international perspective.

Innovative talents also need to be more dynamic. The sea rejects no streams. It is indispensable to enhance the city's core competitiveness through talent internationalization, but it is also essential to explore domestic talents. Nanjing has the advantage in science and education of 53 universities and more than 800,000 students. But to integrate into Nanjing's innovation tide, Nanjing still needs to stimulate the innovative vitality of talents constantly, in-depth implementation of “The Purple Mountain Talents Plan” in addition to providing “support for university students' innovation and entrepreneurship” program and opening up “science and innovation laboratories”. Only by gathering talents from all over the world and making full use of their intelligence can we make the construction of an international city “fly with both wings”.

“The ‘cause of innovation’ planted in Nanjing is bearing fruit. Nanjing has shown good resilience even under the pandemic haze.” Zhang Erzhen, a chief expert in the direction of open economy at the Yangtze River Institute of Industry and Economics of Nanjing University and director of the Institute of Openness to the World of Nantong University, said.

The tide of innovation is strong and intensive. “But conservation maintains the outdated, while enterprising achieves freshness.” In the post-pandemic era, Nanjing is using unprecedented innovation, courage, and wisdom to ensure that the innovation concept is carried out and continued. The pace of innovation is firm and resounding, injecting inexhaustible power for Nanjing to build a city famous for innovation and beautiful ancient capital.