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Invest Shanghai
Shanghai will prioritize high-level opening-up, AI-driven industrial development, global trade, consumption, and quality urban life during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), according to official information released at a news conference on May 18.
Opening-up and key areas
Shanghai will steadily expand pioneering reforms and institutional opening-up, focusing on key strategic areas including Pudong New Area, the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone and its Lin-gang Special Area, the Hongqiao International Open Hub, and the Eastern Hub International Business Cooperation Zone. These areas will serve as testing grounds for new measures and new functions.
Pudong will better align reforms across various areas, such as sci-tech innovation and the transformation of government functions, and seek further breakthroughs in cross-border capital flows and international talent attraction. The area will also explore new institutional arrangements for commodity trade and high-end shipping services, while supporting industrial clusters in integrated circuits, biomedicine, and artificial intelligence.
Lin-gang will deepen the development of the Yangshan Special Comprehensive Bonded Zone, expand bonded maintenance and remanufacturing, and conduct stress tests in cross-border data and offshore sci-tech innovation.
Hongqiao will further integrate technology, transport, business, and exhibition functions, while continuing to amplify the spillover effect of the China International Import Expo.
The Eastern Hub International Business Cooperation Zone is expected to be fully completed by 2030. It will improve mechanisms to ensure the safe and convenient cross-border flow of goods and people, develop functions including international business, high-end exhibitions, professional training, and international innovation collaboration, and cultivate commercial and leisure services, healthcare, and technology services.
AI development and industrial upgrading
Shanghai will fully implement the "AI Plus" initiative, using AI to drive industrial transformation and build new forms of intelligent economy.
In manufacturing, the city will focus on key sectors such as integrated circuits, high-end equipment, and automobiles, and develop smart factories supported by embodied intelligence, industrial agents, industrial data resources, and intelligent computing platforms.
By the end of 2030, Shanghai aims to deploy 100,000 humanoid robots in factories and increase the application rate of industrial agents among large industrial enterprises — those with annual revenue of at least 20 million yuan ($2.94 million) from their core business — to more than 80 percent.
The city will support AI applications in producer services, particularly knowledge-intensive professional services such as legal and accounting work. It will also promote AI for science, or AI4S, in areas including new materials and biomedicine. Developers will be encouraged to build closed-loop laboratories that combine AI-powered simulation with physical experiments.
Trade and consumption
Shanghai will strengthen its role as a global trade hub and cultivate new growth drivers for foreign trade.
The city will encourage enterprises with robust domestic and international supply chain capabilities to establish global supply chain management centers in Shanghai.
Shanghai will advance service trade and digital trade while fostering new business models, including outbound licensing in biomedicine and data trade. It will support the full-chain development of cross-border e-commerce, seek to expand the catalog of bonded maintenance products, deepen remanufacturing pilot programs, and further promote green trade and offshore trade.
The city will also promote imports of quality consumer goods such as healthcare products, food, agricultural products, clothing, and cosmetics.
Shanghai will continue to foster the debut economy by hosting high-level product launches, first shows, and first exhibitions, attracting more domestic and international brands to open their first stores in the city.
It will upgrade key commercial areas, improve tax refund services for overseas visitors, and create a more age-friendly and internationally convenient consumption environment.
Support for enterprises and talent
Shanghai will continue to attract domestic and overseas enterprises and talent through enhanced services and a stronger business environment.
During the 2026-30 period, the city plans to add more than 300,000 highly skilled professionals to its talent pool. The 48th WorldSkills Competition will be held in Shanghai from Sept 22 to 27, 2026. The event is expected to help Shanghai further strengthen its skilled talent pool.
Shanghai will also improve enterprise services. Relying on nearly 6,000 enterprise service specialists, the city will build a "3-kilometer service circle" and use service packages to respond more efficiently to business needs.
Better urban life
Shanghai will continue to improve public services in employment, housing, education, healthcare, elderly care, childcare, culture, and sports.
The city will expand green spaces along the Huangpu River, Suzhou Creek, and the coastal belt, and launch a new round of park development across the city.
To better serve senior residents, Shanghai will improve age-friendly services, accelerate barrier-free renovations at metro stations and public buildings, and help them bridge the digital divide.
For childcare, the city will expand affordable and safe services, improve community childcare sites, and promote nursery classes for children under 3 in more than 95 percent of the city's kindergartens.