Headquartered in Shanghai

Oriental Outlook Issue No. 1, 2019

Traditional enterprises have chosen Shanghai as their corporate headquarters for a long period of time. At present, a brand new sense of headquarters is gradually taking shape in Shanghai.

The Internet economy has entered the “second half of the game,” and Shanghai has made efforts to achieve a series of goals such as being the center of development in artificial intelligence (AI) and China’s hub of the big data industry. More importantly, a group of new Internet companies have been founded and grown in Shanghai and have completed the process of market access and development of business models.

On the list of Top 100 Chinese Internet Companies in 2018, jointly released by the Internet Society of China and the Information Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, were 21 Shanghai-based Internet companies such as Wangsu, Ctrip, and Bilibili. These enterprises cover aspects of clothing, food, housing, travel, entertainment, and education.

As China’s financial center, Shanghai is one of the most active cities for venture capital in China. Even in the first half of 2016, which was known as “capital winter,” there were 344 investment and financing events in Shanghai’s pan-Internet sector.

However, in the eyes of Shanghai policy-makers, the city can’t just consider transplanting the towering tree that has grown into its garden. How to cultivate small trees into big trees is the proposition that Shanghai is trying to solve.