On August 18, 2013, the "China Urban Innovation Report (2013)", a research project on the scientific evaluation of China's urban innovation capabilities sponsored by the Urban Research Institute of the China Urban Development Research Association, was released in Beijing. The "China Urban Innovation Report (2013)" uses the urban innovation capability evaluation index system as the main framework of "innovation basic conditions and supporting capabilities, technology industrialization capabilities, and brand innovation capabilities" to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of China's urban innovation capabilities and form a Comprehensive and special rankings of urban innovation capabilities.
The evaluation results show that the top 10 cities in terms of comprehensive innovation capabilities are as follows:
Cities at the sub-provincial level and above are: Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Guangzhou City, Tianjin City, Nanjing City, Xiamen City, Dalian City, Ningbo City;
The prefecture-level cities are: Suzhou City, Dongguan City, Foshan City, Wuxi City, Zhongshan City, Zhuhai City, Changzhou City, Jiaxing City, Changsha City, Shaoxing City;
County-level cities are: Kunshan City, Jiangyin City, Changshu City, Jinjiang City, Wujiang City, Zhangjiagang City, Yixing City, Yiwu City, Zhuji City, Jimo City.
The following points can be seen from the distribution of the top ten cities in the comprehensive evaluation ranking.
(1) China’s innovative cities present three major cluster distribution characteristics. From the perspective of regional distribution, cities in the east have an absolute advantage. The top ten cities at sub-provincial level (inclusive) and above, prefecture-level cities and county-level cities in the comprehensive evaluation are almost all cities in the east. Only one city in the central and western parts of the country ranks in the top ten. of ranks. Cities in the Yangtze River Delta remain the backbone of urban innovation in China. Among the cities at the sub-provincial level (inclusive), 2 are affiliated with Zhejiang, 1 is affiliated with Jiangsu, and ***4 cities including Shanghai are located in the Yangtze River Delta region; among prefecture-level cities, 3 are affiliated with Jiangsu Province, 2 are affiliated to Zhejiang Province, and 5 cities are located in the Yangtze River Delta region; among county-level cities, 8 cities are located in the Yangtze River Delta region. The region's innovation capacity is obviously strong. Next is the Pearl River Delta region. Four of the prefecture-level cities in the top ten cities in the comprehensive evaluation are located in the Pearl River Delta region. Beijing and Tianjin, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Pearl River Delta constitute China's three largest urban innovation clusters from north to south.
(2) The promotion of innovative national strategies has achieved remarkable results, and some cities in the central and western regions have entered the forefront of innovation capabilities. After the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed the strategy of building an innovative country, in order to promote a group of cities (districts) to enter the ranks of innovative pilots and demonstrate and drive more cities (districts) to take the path of innovative development, since 2005, the Ministry of Science and Technology has successively determined 45 cities have launched scientific and technological innovation pilots and have made positive progress; Changsha, which ranks at the top this time, is a city in central China. Take Changsha City as an example. Changsha City has established an innovative city pilot work leading group with major leaders as team leaders and major department heads as members, and has held multiple innovative city construction leadership and coordination meetings. Led by the Science and Technology Bureau, the "Changsha National Innovative City Pilot Work Implementation Plan (2010~2015)" was compiled. According to this plan, the "Changsha National Innovative City Pilot Work Implementation Plan Key Work Task Breakdown Table" was formulated. The policy system has been continuously improved, resources have been integrated, and policies on investment promotion, financial support, tax incentives, and talent introduction and training have been introduced. At the same time, Changsha's finance department has increased its investment in science and technology year by year. The special funds for science and technology development have increased from 77 million yuan in 2006 to 244.2 million yuan, and the innovation service system has been increasingly improved. In 2010, Changsha applied for 9,071 patents, a year-on-year increase of 47%. The total number of "Sany" patent authorizations reached 1,356, with an average annual increase of 50%.
(3) The advantages of institutional mechanisms are the root of maintaining innovation capabilities. Compared with the previous year, the pattern of comprehensive rankings of urban innovation capabilities has not changed. In the city rankings, Beijing and Shanghai among sub-provincial-level cities (including) and above, Suzhou, Dongguan and Foshan among prefecture-level cities, and Kunshan and Jiangyin among county-level cities have been at the forefront of urban innovation ability rankings for many times.