Shenzhen has established three offices to advance the development of pharmaceuticals and medical devices, new energy vehicles, and artificial intelligence. This move highlights Shenzhen's determination to advance industrial development and cultivate new pillar industries, as reported by the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily yesterday.
The city is a prominent hub of China's high-end medical device industry. Data from the Shenzhen Medical Device Industry Analysis Report shows that in 2023, Shenzhen's medical device output value reached 99 billion yuan (US$13.9 billion), accounting for about 10% of the national total.
Shenzhen has established a number of key scientific and technological infrastructure facilities and developed over 9 million square meters of industrial parks to support the research, development, and commercialization efforts of specialized and innovative medical enterprises. Additionally, the city has earmarked industrial funds totaling 16.5 billion yuan to bolster biomedicine companies.
In the realm of new energy vehicles (NEVs), Shenzhen produced 1.73 million NEVs in 2023, a growth rate of 104.2% year on year. Positioned as a national leader in intelligent driving advancements, the city has set ambitious targets to build a world-class, next-generation automobile city and produce 2 million NEVs per year by 2025.
Shenzhen was the first city in the country to create legislation for intelligent connected vehicles (ICVs) in 2022 and release standards for ICVs in 2023.
In the AI sector, Shenzhen recorded an output value exceeding 300 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year growth of 21.1%.
AI technology can be perceived as a three-level hierarchy of mathematics, models, and applications, according to Fan Congming, executive president of the Shenzhen Artificial Intelligence Industry Association. Among Chinese cities leading in AI development, Shenzhen is particularly strong in applications, with the majority of local AI firms focusing on applications, Fan said.
The city has introduced 73 AI application scenarios covering public services, medical care, and the low-altitude economy, with more to be included, according to Zhang Tianyu, deputy director of the Shenzhen Artificial Intelligence Industry Office.
Shenzhen was home to 1,646 AI companies at the end of 2023, ranking third among Chinese cities, according to the association. The China Artificial Intelligence City Competitiveness Ranking Research Report, released in June of this year, ranked Shenzhen third among the 100 most competitive Chinese cities in AI development.