NATURE INDEX | SCIENCE CITIES A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN China’s political and economic centres, Beijing and Shanghai, connect on a scientific level.

BY HEPENG JIA Shanghai. Many of these institutes were incor- Shanghai’s was RMB103 billion (US$15.3 bil- porated into the Chinese Academy of Sciences lion), accounting for 3.8% of its GDP. Between eijing and Shanghai, the most scien- (CAS) in 1949 (although some of the Academia 2012 and 2016, researchers in Beijing increased tifically productive cities in China, also Sinica institutes moved to Taiwan that year). their contribution to papers in the index by enjoy the highest city-to-city collabora- Until the 1980s, when reforms began to open 43%, and Shanghai’s contribution increased by Btion in the country. Last year, Beijing’s contribu- the economy to foreign investment, CAS and 22%. These trends supported a national growth tion to journals included in the Nature Index, defence-related research organizations pro- of 45% for the same period. measured as weighted fractional count (WFC), duced the majority of academic research in While sharing in the country’s bounty, Bei- was 1,693, and Shanghai’s was 762. Together, China, says policy analyst, Ning Li, at Eastern jing and Shanghai have followed different R&D they contributed to more papers than the next Washington University (EWU) in Cheney. paths. As the country’s political centre, Beijing dozen cities combined. The two cities have also “Very few Chinese universities did basic houses the national ministries, CAS headquar- formed 382 bilateral institutional partnerships research,” he says. To this day, CAS remains the ters, the China National Space Administration, in 2016 — the highest city-pair in the country. top contributor to the index, with 39 of its 110 and the National Natural Science Foundation The strong scientific ties between Beijing institutes based in Beijing and 11 in Shanghai. of China, as well as Peking University and Tsin- and Shanghai have deep historical roots. Long ghua University, among the top three universi- before the founding of the People’s Republic of PATTERNS OF GROWTH ties in China in the Nature Index. China in 1949, the two cities were centres of China’s economic rise dramatically boosted Beijing also retains the majority of head- scholarship. In 1929, the National Academy of research activity across the country, and its two quarters for state-owned conglomerates, Peiping established nine departments, includ- leading cities have been no exception. In 2016, including the research wings of the China ing physics, zoology and chemistry, in Bei- Beijing’s expenditure on research and devel- Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, the China jing, and in the 1920s Academia Sinica set up opment (R&D) was RMB148 billion (US$22 Aerospace Science and Technology Corpora- medical and life sciences centres in Beijing and billion), accounting for 5.9% of its GDP, and tion, and the China Institute of Atomic Energy, VCG VIA GETTY VCG

A flight simulator developed by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), set up to challenge Boeing and Airbus in the passenger plane market. COMAC'S presence in Shanghai underlines the importance of access to finance and international talent for high-tech manufacturing.

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SCIENCE CITIES | NATURE INDEX

all of which contributed to papers in the jour- with stores and restaurants open 24 hours. nals tracked by the index. Overall, more than Despite Shanghai’s favourable environ- BEIJING 250 institutes in Beijing have contributed to the ment for business, its residents tend to be index in the past five years, compared to less risk-averse, says science policy analyst Cong WFC 206: ,693 than 150 in Shanghai. Cao at the University of Nottingham Ningbo But Shanghai, as China’s finance and manu- China. “Shanghai is quite conservative in SHANGHAI facturing metropolis, plays host to many more terms of entrepreneurship,” he says. Beijing industrial research organizations than Beijing, surpasses Shanghai as a destination for high- WFC 206: 762 says Du Debin, dean of the School of Urban and tech start-ups, particularly in the information Regional Science at Shanghai-based East China technology sector. Its Zhongguancun area Beijing Shanghai Normal University. In 2008, for example, China has become the capital of China’s growing 1 set up the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of IT industry, chosen as the base for computer Population 2.7m 24.2m China (COMAC) in Shanghai to challenge the maker, Lenovo, and web services provider, GDP per capita1 US$7,500 US$7,300 dominance of Boeing and Airbus in the pas- Baidu, among other companies. senger plane market. “COMAC’s location in R&D as % of GDP2 5.9% 3.8% Shanghai confirms the importance of finance, FRIEND AND FOE markets and access to international talent in Beijing and Shanghai both attract the best R&D personnel3 34,400 236,800 high-tech manufacturing,” Du says. researchers from across the country and over- COMAC is not an isolated case. According seas. But Beijing’s proximity to funding and Patents granted4 4,000 2,400 to the Shanghai Municipal Statistics Bureau, decision-making bodies gives researchers in by the end of 2016, the city was home to 411 the capital a competitive edge when it comes foreign R&D centres — more than in any other to securing grants. “Our Beijing colleagues SHARE OF OUTPUT OVER TIME city in China. have an advantage because they are closer to City-level contribution to the share of “Besides Shanghai’s research infrastructure, science-related ministries, so they can lobby authorship in the Nature Index, measured by the city is also more open to foreign invest- for funding and projects more easily,” says Ren the share of weighted fractional count (WFC) for that year, compared to China’s share. ment,” says Li at EWU. It includes the coun- Wei, a professor of physics at Shanghai Univer- try’s first free-trade zone. What’s more, he sity, who makes trips to Beijing to compete for China Beijing Shanghai

says the city’s bureaucrats major projects. 15 are more flexible in their Incentives for coop- enforcement of regulations eration remain strong. 12 to prioritize the needs of “SHANGHAI IS QUITE When seeking collabora- researchers and industry. tions, scientists are often While it could take months CONSERVATIVE drawn to the top. “The best 9 to ship living samples to researchers in my fields are Beijing due to stringent IN TERMS OF in Beijing and Shanghai, 6 rules, for example, officials so it is natural that the two

in Shanghai often approve ENTREPRENEURSHIP.” cities have the closest co- Share of total WFC (%) 3 shipments within a matter authorship in the Nature of days. Index,” says Qiu Zilong, a 0 With many manufacturing bases located in neuroscientist at the CAS Institute of Neurol- 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 the suburbs of Shanghai or the neighbouring ogy in Shanghai (which is part of the Shang- provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Shanghai is hai Institutes for Biological Sciences) (SIBS). SUBJECT STRENGTHS a more appealing destination for foreign R&D In 2014, Qiu, working with colleagues at Bei- Beijing and Shanghai contribute more to centres, says Li. jing Normal University, identified a critical chemistry papers in the Nature Index than Adding to its appeal is a service industry that gene involved in neural plasticity during early any other subject in the natural sciences. facilitates international commerce, for example postnatal development in mice, which was China Beijing Shanghai published in Nature Communications. Output is based on WFC 2016

Many CAS institutes also promote cross- Chemistry BILATERAL COLLABORATIONS CAS collaborations that bring researchers The number of bilateral partnerships between an from the two cities together. In the index, 50% institution in Beijing and an institution in Shanghai 40% the most prolific institutional collaborations E a has increased since 2012. r 30% t between the two cities involve the University h

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laborations are with Shanghai counterparts, s 200 such as the CAS Shanghai Astronomical Obser- vatory, where some of his doctoral students are located. Zhang is currently working with col- Life sciences 100 leagues at the CAS Shanghai Engineering Cen- tre for Microsatellites, and French researchers, 1. Municipal Bureau of Statistics for each city (2016) Number of bilateral collaborations to develop a satellite for observing bright cos- 2. Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Statistics (2016) 3. Tong, A. et al. Science and Technology Management 0 mic explosions known as gamma-ray bursts, Research 3, 1000–7695 (2017) (2014 data) 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 which is scheduled to launch in 2021. ■ 4. United States Patent and Trademark O ce (2016)

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