Thirteen business leaders become the latest to join Pudong's ambitious GOI plan.

Thirteen business leaders recently joined Pudong's ambitious GOI plan to enrich its innovation ecosystem.

GOI, short for Group Open Innovation, was launched last year to encourage industry leaders with businesses in Pudong to build open innovation platforms and create collaborative innovation networks.

Among the first to answer the call were JLABS@Shanghai, Johnson & Johnson's first overseas JLABS incubator outside North America; Roche Accelerator, the first in-house accelerator globally; and Microsoft's AI & loT Insider Lab, the first of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region.

JLABS@Shanghai has attracted 70 startups, and Microsoft's AI & loT Insider Lab has helped nearly 160 firms grow, 40 of which have lured billions of yuan in social capital investment.

On Tuesday, the plan welcomed 13 new members, including BASF, General Electric, Nokia and Lenovo, bringing the total number of GOI members to 47. These companies cover burgeoning industries like integrated circuits, biomedicine and automotive electronics.

According to BASF, its new open innovation center will be built based on its Network for Asian Open Research to accelerate the commercialization and transformation of scientific advances.

"We have a more open mind toward innovation and upgrading the GOI plan with personalized service," said Li Hui, director of the Pudong Science Technology and Economy Commission. "We hope to make further efforts to attract business leaders to get deeper involvement in Pudong's development."