The Shanghai Global City Research Institute, the city’s first key think tank, is inaugurated at the Shanghai Normal University on Nov 21. [Photo/shnu.edu.cn]

The Shanghai Global City Research Institute, the city's first key think tank, was inaugurated at the Shanghai Normal University on Nov 21.

The institute was launched due to the city's urgent need of high-quality intellectual support as it is at a critical period of further reform and opening up which brings with it tougher development tasks and makes it more difficult to make scientific decisions.

Zhou Zhenhua, president of the Shanghai Global City Research Institute, said the institute will focus on theoretical research, and policy-making consulting, regarding Shanghai's striving to become a truly global city.

Zhou also said that the institute should be an open platform for research projects, for academic exchanges, and for cooperation between institutions.

It will publish journals and hold seminars to give experts, government officials, and enterprise leaders channels to communicate with each other. It will seek partnerships with related institutions, according to Zhou.

The institute will also serve as an exchange platform for young scholars, international scholars, and international think tanks.

It aims to form a big network, with the global city index research team being its core part, with other components including the institute's academic committee members, specially-appointed experts, member units of the institute, and social professionals.

Teng Jianyong, Party secretary of Shanghai Normal University, said that the launch of the institute shows the city's political, academic and industrial circles' determination and efforts to jointly develop Shanghai into a global city.

The university will use its advantages to offer intellectual support to Shanghai's efforts to become a truly global city, added Teng.

Shanghai has taken the lead in the research on policy-making consulting and the establishment of think tanks in the country. It has formed a think tank system composed of State-level high-end think tanks, municipal-level think tanks, and other supplementary ones.

Government officials, experts and scholars participate in the inauguration ceremony of the Shanghai Global City Research Institute on Nov 21. [Photo/shnu.edu.cn]