Just a year ago, this natural peninsula located at the heart of the Zhangjiang Science City, a high-end zone located in Shanghai's Pudong New Area, was just a humble place of swaying reeds and wild flowers. Now, it has emerged as a burgeoning test bed for China's artificial intelligence (AI) industry: an area with 20 office buildings, equipped with Alpheus smart recycling bins, Infineon smart road lamps and Slamtec security robots, all busy doing their jobs autonomously. But for its planners, this is only the beginning. In April 2018, Zhangjiang Science City released its blueprint to build an AI island that concentrates digital projects in an array of fields, including AI, big data, cloud computing, blockchain, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), and then apply these technologies across the region. The move comes as part of Zhangjiang's efforts to become an "Intelligence Valley" for the high-tech zone which has already earned its reputations as China's "Medicine Valley" and Shanghai's "Silicon Valley." With AI companies pouring in over the past year, a multi-layered AI ecosystem is taking shape, becoming a new driver for the industrial upgrade of Zhangjiang Science City, as well as that of the wider Pudong New Area.

A typical JD motorcycle deliveryman in Shanghai delivers 100 packages per day, racing along the city's waterfront, navigating tiny alleyways and darting between the city's skyscrapers. That may seem impressive but JD is still striving to improve motorcycle delivery efficiency with new tech -- much of it AI-powered. Shanghai is home to 24 million people and some 2 million businesses -- many of which are highly competitive tech companies. In this environment, startups must either excel quickly or risk being left behind. Rising Shanghai social E-commerce startup Pinduoduo needed just three years to reach a gross merchandise volume of 100 billion units -- it took first-generation tech giants Alibaba and JD five and ten years respectively to reach the same milestone. A half-hour subway ride from People's Square in the city centre is Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, where many Shanghai tech industries are clustered.