From the close collaboration of three provinces and one city in the Yangtze River Delta to the joint efforts of 11 provinces and cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt; From the initial exploration of innovation communities to the comprehensive rise of super "innovation communities"... Technological innovation has always been the "first engine" driving high-quality development. Recently, the three provinces and one city in the Yangtze River Delta issued the "Decision on Promoting the Coordinated Development of Science and Technology Innovation in the Yangtze River Delta", which came into effect on September 1st. This is the first regional legislation in China that focuses on the coordinated development of scientific and technological innovation, marking a new stage of rule of law for the coordinated development of scientific and technological innovation in the Yangtze River Delta. At the same time, the linkage of the Yangtze River Economic Belt is also accelerating. In June, at the "Yangtze River Delta Yangtze River Economic Belt Science and Technology Innovation Roundtable Conference" held in Nanjing, 11 provincial and municipal science and technology departments signed the "Yangtze River Delta Yangtze River Economic Belt Linkage Science and Technology Innovation Leading the Development of New Quality Productivity Cooperation Framework Agreement", jointly promoting cross regional science and technology industry innovation, carrying out joint research and development of key core technologies, innovation platform construction, and cross regional transformation of scientific and technological achievements, injecting momentum into the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. In 2023, at the symposium on promoting the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that "the Yangtze River Delta region should strengthen cross regional coordination of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation. We should vigorously promote scientific and technological innovation, strengthen the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, give birth to new industries, new business forms and new models, expand new development space, cultivate new development momentum, and better link with the Yangtze River Economic Belt and radiate throughout the country." Now, facing opportunities in fields such as artificial intelligence, integrated circuits, and biomedicine, the Yangtze River Economic Belt is working together to pursue "new" and "quality" through top-level design and mechanism construction, and enhance the "color" of development. The innovation synergy is getting tighter and tighter. Located in Chuzhou, Anhui Province, the China Singapore Suzhou Chuzhou High tech Zone is a vibrant innovation rainforest thriving. Huarui Biotechnology (Chuzhou) Co., Ltd. from Huzhou, Zhejiang planted biotechnology seeds here three years ago and has now become the largest β - alanine production base in China, winning the Excellence Award in the 2024 China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition National Competition. Liu Hongyong, the general manager of the company, sighed and said, "With the successful experience of participating in the joint construction of Suzhou Industrial Park, this is a place that can accomplish things!" One successful case is worth more than a dozen documents. Now, 60% of the foreign-funded projects, 70% of the investment amount, and 80% of the projects in the park all come from the Yangtze River Delta region. Breaking away from the "one acre, three parts land" thinking, the China Singapore Suzhou Chuzhou High tech Zone provides a demonstration model for the construction of inter provincial industrial cooperation parks. The seeds of collaborative innovation continue to grow in the soil of regional coordinated development, including the Shanghai Huaihe Science and Technology Innovation Collaborative Center, Huzhou Nanxun (Songjiang) Talent Science and Technology Innovation Center, and Nantong Rugao High tech Zone Shanghai Suzhou Science and Technology Innovation Industrial Park. The population size and total economic output of the Yangtze River Economic Belt account for "half of the country". But looking at it from an open perspective, the Yangtze River Economic Belt spans across three major regions: the eastern, central, and western regions, with both early and late developing areas coexisting. The recently released "Yangtze River Economic Belt Coordinated and Balanced Development Index Report (2023-2024)" shows that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the level of coordinated and balanced development in the Yangtze River Economic Belt region has continued to improve. Systematic thinking coordinates various regional policies and field constructions, continuously expanding the effectiveness of strategic implementation. From the issuance of the "Outline of the Development Plan for the Yangtze River Economic Belt" to establish a development pattern of one axis, two wings, three poles, and multiple points in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, to the review of the "Outline of the Plan for the Construction of the Chengdu Chongqing Dual City Economic Circle" and the solid promotion of the integrated development strategy of the Yangtze River Delta... a series of vivid practices have gradually formed a high-quality development pattern of "each beautiful, beautiful together". The landing of technological achievements generates 1 femtosecond of gold, which is one billionth of a second. In this extremely short period of time, scientists have utilized laser pulses for medical imaging, surgical treatment, and even additive manufacturing. At Anhui Huachuang Hongdu Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd., a new type of high-performance ultrafast laser has entered small-scale production. The key core component, high-power fiber Bragg grating, has quietly been replaced by independent and controllable components imported from abroad. This independent innovation product that changes the domestic femtosecond laser market pattern comes from the "allocation investment combination" project of the Yangtze River Delta National Technology Innovation Center. Our independently developed domestic first femtosecond grating has reached the international advanced level in various indicators, especially with spectral tuning parameters reaching 4th order, which is at the international leading level; The 6000W grating has passed customer testing and is the highest power tilted grating in China. ”Wang Haijun, Chairman of Jiangsu Aoyi Technology Co., Ltd., said. The Yangtze River Delta National Technology Innovation Center, jointly built by Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui, has attracted a large number of innovative resources and promoted the landing of more innovative achievements since its establishment in 2021. As of now, the R&D personnel of the Yangtze River Delta National Technology Innovation Center have exceeded 18000, more than 1700 incubated enterprises have been established, more than 20000 service enterprises have been served, and more than 100 R&D carriers have been laid out and constructed; We have implemented more than 140 forward-looking and leading major technology projects through the "combination of allocation and investment" model, established strategic partnerships with over 200 domestic and foreign universities and research institutes, and established joint innovation centers with nearly 600 leading enterprises. The planning of technological innovation is a targeting and focus on the future coordinates of regional development. "The Yangtze River Economic Belt should further build a synergy mechanism for scientific and technological innovation, and make greater efforts to cultivate new driving forces." Chen Wen, a researcher at the Nanjing Institute of Geography and Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and chairman of the Jiangsu Suke Innovation Strategy Research Institute, said that the Yangtze River Delta region should be encouraged to take advantage of local markets and factor resources in the upper and middle reaches of the region to build a scientific and technological innovation community in accordance with the law of marketization. After the "Yangtze River Delta Yangtze River Economic Belt Science and Technology Innovation Roundtable Conference" was held in Nanjing, provinces and cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt began to promote collaborative innovation in a step-by-step and focused manner, from "sharing a river of water" to "playing a good game of chess". Wang Wei, Deputy Director of Chongqing Science and Technology Bureau, expressed the hope to expand the scientific and technological innovation resources of the Yangtze River Delta in the western region through mechanism construction. "For example, we can jointly build major scientific and technological innovation platforms, especially the Yangtze River Delta Innovation Consortium, to integrate relevant universities and enterprises along the Yangtze River. In 2024, Jiangsu will jointly establish 17 national key laboratories with universities and colleges along the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Looking towards the future, Zhao Yan, Vice Governor of Jiangsu Province, expressed his expectations: firstly, to focus on key breakthroughs and jointly build a highland of innovative development, with a focus on forming innovation consortia across regions and concentrating efforts on tackling key "bottleneck" technologies; The second is to forge an innovation engine, co create a global leading platform, face the forefront of world technology, and build a major technology infrastructure cluster; The third is to deepen regional collaboration, jointly build an open innovation ecosystem, and promote the free flow and efficient integration of innovative elements such as talent, technology, capital, and information. Continuous optimization of innovation ecology in Maldives, a 318 kilometer long "underwater dragon" passes through the islands, connecting the six islands into an optical network, helping the local communication network to achieve a leap from 2G to 4G. This is the world's longest single seamless submarine high-speed optical cable laid by Jiangsu Hengtong Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Hengtong Optoelectronics"). The technology of submarine optical cables is difficult, the application environment is complex, and the reliability requirements are high. How can a private enterprise compete against international giants? Innovation and win-win! "The person in charge of Hengtong Optoelectronics blurted out. In the second batch of pilot projects for the construction of the Yangtze River Delta Innovation Consortium this year, the "Yangtze River Delta Marine Information Transmission Technology Innovation Consortium" led by Hengtong Optoelectronics was listed. According to the agreement, Hengtong Optoelectronics and relevant universities and enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta jointly invest, cooperate in research and development, and share intellectual property and market benefits. The Yangtze River Delta has gathered many strategic technological forces that are squeezing the bottom of the box. How to unblock and break through bottlenecks, and turn the reform and innovation of "bold exploration, bold experimentation, and independent reform" into regional vitality? In 2024, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China reviewed the "Opinions on Several Policy Measures for Continuously Deepening the High quality Development of the Yangtze River Delta Integration", proposing to link and build innovation chains, industrial chains, and supply chains on a larger scale. One drop drives full activation. At present, the three provinces and one city are jointly promoting the construction of two batches of 24 parent triangle innovation consortia, and the atmosphere of cross regional collaborative innovation is becoming increasingly strong. The underlying logic of collaborative innovation in the Yangtze River Economic Belt is "high quality" and "common growth", and there is a clear path to follow in the earlier integration of the Yangtze River Delta. Under the guidance and support of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the collaborative cooperation in science and technology innovation among the three provinces and one city has been continuously accelerated. The Yangtze River Delta Science and Technology Innovation Community Construction Office has been established, and the Action Plan for Building the Yangtze River Delta Science and Technology Innovation Community has been formulated and implemented to jointly promote cross regional collaboration in science and technology innovation and industrial innovation. Since 2022, the Office for the Construction of the Yangtze River Delta Science and Technology Innovation Community has organized and implemented a total of 43 projects, with a financial investment of 180 million yuan from the three provinces and one city, and a total social investment of 1.15 billion yuan. In 2024, a total of 134 technical requirements from enterprises were collected for joint research and development, 41 key unveiling tasks were released, and for the first time, future industries were included in the support areas. Zhang Hua, Vice President of Jiangsu Science and Technology Development Strategy Research Institute, believes that the Yangtze River Economic Belt has more than one-third of the country's universities and institutes, about half of the academicians and scientific and technological personnel of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and three of the five national level science and technology innovation centers are located in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. The Yangtze River Economic Belt is not only a world-class golden waterway, but also has the potential to become a world-class technological innovation belt. Behind a first-class enterprise is a first-class ecosystem, and a first-class ecosystem creates a first-class enterprise. Creating a better business environment and innovative ecosystem for enterprise development, and enabling talent entrepreneurship to achieve twice the result with half the effort, has become a new track for "hidden competition" in various regions of the Yangtze River Delta. At the beginning of this year, the "Six Little Dragons" in Hangzhou became popular. Zhou Zhihua, Vice President of Nanjing University, believes that this is not accidental and cannot be separated from the good industrial innovation ecology in the Yangtze River Delta and the deep cultivation of new track layout. The 'soft power' of the innovation ecosystem is the 'hard support' for high-quality development, and this consensus is moving upstream along the Yangtze River. On July 8th, the "Synthetic Gas to Aviation Kerosene Project" incubated by the Chongqing Research Institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University settled in Luzhou, Sichuan, taking the first step towards large-scale industrialization. This not only enables the technology in the east to turn the biological resources in the west into treasures, but also ensures China's self-sufficiency in green aviation fuel. Qin Ji, Executive Vice President of the Chongqing Research Institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, told reporters that in the past five years since entering Chongqing, the institute has achieved joint development with Chongqing, introduced 811 talents, and released a number of major achievements such as Chongqing's first language model, Zhaoyan, the world's first artificial intelligence (AI) full parameter drug prediction platform, and the "Micro Writing NanoTitan" all-in-one machine. Regional collaboration should not only be reflected in the industrial chain, but also implemented in the innovation chain. Zhang Hua suggests that industrial layout should be tailored to local conditions to guide the healthy flow of factors between the Yangtze River Economic Belt regions, breaking down barriers to the flow of talent, capital, technology, data, and other factors; Through alliance building, platform sharing, talent recruitment, achievement sharing, and ecological governance, we aim to achieve regional synergy in the high-quality development of industries in the Yangtze River Economic Belt through innovative integration. The Yangtze River Economic Belt is an important innovation highland in China. The construction of a super "innovation community" further integrates regional innovation resources, enhances regional innovation capabilities and efficiency, helps improve the national innovation system, and enhances China's position and influence in the global innovation landscape. (New Society)