From October 24 to 26, the 2025 World Laureates Forum (WLF) concluded successfully at the Lingang Center in Shanghai. With the theme “Science in Future: Shanghai and the World,” the grand scientific gathering served as a powerful magnet, drawing together more than 150 leading scientists from around the globe, including four Nobel Laureates and four Turing Award Laureates, as well as representatives from government, universities, research institutions, innovative enterprises, and science and technology investment organizations.
The Forum’s deep connection with Lingang is no coincidence. Since first hosting the WLF in 2018, Lingang has continuously evolved alongside it, growing into a thriving ecosystem where science, industry, and urban development coexist symbiotically.
In 2024, the Lingang Special Area achieved an industrial output value of RMB 423 billion, and attracted more than 600 high-level domestic and international experts, including 124 national-level talents.
From the “intellectual nucleus” of the World Laureates Forum, to the “application nucleus” of industrial innovation, and the “vitality nucleus” of youth entrepreneurship, Lingang is giving rise to a new Chinese paradigm for scientific and technological innovation, one built on the mutual advancement of science and the city itself.
Part 1
Giants of Science and High-Energy Platforms: Building an “Innovation Singularity”
Lingang’s ambition is clearly reflected in the blueprint of the Lingang Science and Innovation City. By 2030, it aims to build and operate no fewer than ten world-class laboratories and major scientific facilities, nurture several emerging industrial clusters worth over RMB 10 billion, and attract more than 100,000 innovative and entrepreneurial talents. These goals are not castles in the air, but rest on solid foundations. Lingang has already established three high-energy laboratories, two major science and technology facilities, and two national-level projects.
It has also launched 14 high-level innovation platforms in collaboration with leading universities such as Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Peking University, and Fudan University, while attracting a number of new research institutions. The PetroChina Shanghai Advanced Materials Research Institute has obtained 38 patents, making breakthroughs in fields such as polyimide materials and metallocene-catalyzed olefin polymerization anti-caking agents.
More importantly, these top-tier resources are producing true “chemical reactions.”
The establishment of the Permanent Venue of the World Laureates Forum and the International Collaboration Zone has created a strong “magnetic field effect,” attracting over 600 high-level talents to settle in Lingang. Research is no longer confined to the ivory tower. For instance, Tao Ruoyuan’s team is on the brink of mass-producing LCP materials, a vivid example of scenario-driven research and development. Institutions such as the Software Engineering Institute of East China Normal University and the Dishui Lake Advanced Finance Institute, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics have also taken root here, forming a complete talent cultivation and research innovation chain. Scattered “pearls of wisdom” are now strung together into an “innovation necklace.”
Lingang Artificial Intelligence Science Center
Part 2
Open Industrial Chains and Governance Reform: Unblocking the Arteries of Innovation
The vitality of a scientific ecosystem lies in the synergy between technology and industry. Lingang has addressed this challenge through a full-chain layout, seamlessly linking R&D, pilot testing, and large-scale production, creating a distinctive innovation ecosystem.
A defining measure has been the selection of “chain-leading” enterprises and the encouragement of open industrial scenarios. The arrival of the Tesla Energy Storage Gigafactory exemplifies how Lingang can create an industrial cluster “from nothing.” The project’s open applications and strong demand rapidly attracted upstream and downstream enterprises. With active support and coordination from the Lingang Administration, a complete industrial chain ecosystem took shape, with the energy storage sector in Lingang expected to reach an output value of RMB 30 billion in 2025. This “rainforest ecosystem”, where super enterprises form the trunk and SMEs and startups branch out as leaves, has achieved synergistic evolution across the industrial chain.
Meanwhile, an upgrade in government service models is injecting new vitality into this ecosystem. The LingKe Space, Lingang’s first park-level service center, has shifted services from behind the counter to the enterprise doorstep. Through its “project steward” system and tailored service model, it provides enterprises with full life-cycle support. By moving from “waiting for companies to come” to “running alongside them,” Lingang has made its innovation ecosystem not only strong in “hard power,” but also warm in “soft service.”
The LingKe Space
Part 3
From Backpackers to Builders: Creating a Vibrant Home for Talent
At its core, competition in innovation is competition for talent, while retaining talent depends on creating a city where people feel they belong. Lingang recognizes that “attracting talent” is only the first step, and “retaining” and “empowering” them are even more crucial. To this end, Lingang has developed a three-dimensional support system encompassing housing, lifestyle, and social integration, designed to transform newcomers from temporary visitors into long-term residents.
In housing, Lingang Investment Holding Group launched the “Chenyu” brand of talent apartments and an international talent community in 2022, offering affordable rents far below market rates, giving young professionals a sense of security.
Meanwhile, the “Youth Station” provides free temporary accommodation, helping newcomers settle in smoothly. More than 1,000 young people have already benefited.
For aspiring entrepreneurs, Lingang has created a “zero-cost revolution” incubation system, offering free lodging for early-stage founders, three years of rent exemption plus financial support for small teams, and three years of free incubation for startups. So far, 14 AI and semiconductor companies have successfully launched under this model, reducing overall startup costs by around 30%. Beyond financial support, Lingang connects founders to strategic resources and markets, enabling more young innovators to grow from “backpackers” into “pillars of industry.”
“Chenyu” Affordable Rental Housing for Talents
A New Paradigm Takes Shape
The long-term partnership between the World Laureates Forum and Lingang represents a mutually empowering journey.
While the Forum brings the world’s frontier scientific ideas and intellectual resources to Lingang, the region’s maturing ecosystem of science, industry, and talent provides fertile ground for these ideas to take root and flourish.
By the shores of Dishui Lake, from the Forum’s intellectual core to the industrial application core, and the youth innovation core, a new paradigm of scientific and technological innovation, one that transcends traditional linear development, is clearly emerging.
Lingang is no longer a cold industrial park, but a vibrant “innovation rainforest” teeming with possibility.
Source: China Media Group Mobile
