In east China's Shanghai Municipality, the "future" has continued to be a key word driving high-quality development in industries such as high-end equipment, smart terminals, biomedicine, and aerospace.

An automated container terminal at the northernmost area of Shanghai in Luojing Town is expected to commence full operations in July. At the terminal, bridge and track cranes stand in great numbers, autonomous intelligent vehicles (AIVs) efficiently transport containers, and there are no workers in sight.

Qin Tao, deputy director of Shanghai International Port (Group)'s engineering headquarters, said a new generation of intelligent management and control system is being used at this new terminal. This innovative system employs big data and artificial intelligence to realize production planning, task scheduling, and interactive control.

The supplier of complete solutions for automated terminals, Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co., Ltd., has participated in the construction of more than 60 automated terminals at home and abroad, accounting for more than 70 percent of the total number of automated and intelligent terminals worldwide.

Xu Jianzhong, deputy general manager of Zhenhua Heavy's Changxing branch in Changxing Island of Chongming District, said Chinese companies have led the world in automated terminals.

Also on the island, the Shanghai Changxing Ocean Laboratory, which is affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, is home to a variety of high-end marine equipment.

Among its development achievements is an unmanned ship production line, which simulates the shipyard manufacturing process. This advanced production line is expected to cut manufacturing labor costs by more than 60 percent.

Next to Shanghai Jiao Tong University and East China Normal University, the Grand Neo Bay boasts a solid industrial foundation. It has established an advanced manufacturing system led by four major industries, namely high-end equipment, biomedicine, artificial intelligence, and new-generation information technology.

China's first commercial carbon monitoring satellite was born here. Equipped with a short-wave infrared hyperspectral atmospheric detector with independent intellectual property rights, it has participated in the greenhouse gas point source monitoring projects in coal mines in the provinces of Shanxi and Guizhou. It has assisted local regulatory authorities in successfully achieving regional energy conservation and emission reduction goals.

The world's first successfully launched liquid oxygen rocket was also developed at the bay. Boasting advantages such as low carbon deposition, long-term storage, low costs, zero pollution, and good repeatability, it has become the best choice for future reusable launch vehicles.

Facing the future, Shanghai will accelerate development in four new areas: the digital economy, green and low-carbon initiatives, the metaverse, and intelligent terminals. The city will also focus on five future industries featuring health, intelligence, energy, space, and materials, said Ge Dongbo, chief engineer of Shanghai's commission of economy and information technology.