The full name of the Shanghai Library is "Shanghai Library and Institute of Scientific and Technological Information of Shanghai". Many people wonder why. In the afternoon of December 1, Wu Jianzhong, Director of the Shanghai Library gave a lecture on "the Trends of National Scientific and Technological Innovation and Development", which was well received. Many listeners said that they have finally  realized that the library can also be closely related to technological innovation.

Wu Jianzhong first analyzed the new status of international scientific and technological innovation, focusing on such keywords as "environment", "cooperation", "competitiveness", "talent", "local power", "values" and etc. He described the development trend of international scientific and technological innovation and emphasized that innovation is the source of power in the development of modern society, in terms of six areas, from the provision of resources to the creation of an environment, from individual combat to collaborative innovation, from the development of quantity to the development of quality, from the society of educational backgrounds to the society of capacities, from international imitations to local innovations, from the end to the source. 

Wu Jianzhong said that innovation is a bottom-up process, and the crystallization of collective wisdom, however, innovation must rely on the support of technology. After the severe recession, developed countries are thinking about the issue of power in development, and emerging economies are also considering the potential problems of development, due to the fact that their growth rates are much lower than before the recession. Under such circumstances, developed and developing countries in the world all need to focus on the source of power, namely the role of innovation in development.

If technological innovation is so important, what roles can public libraries play in it? Ma Qibin, an employee of a foreign financial company in Shanghai told reporters that along with the rapid development of science and technology and the deepening of economic globalization, the rhythm of changes in the business environment is much faster than in the past, and corporate decision-makers are no longer able to rely on intuition and instinct to make strategic decisions in the market competition, so it is very necessary for business companies to conduct intelligence work. After listening to Wu Jianzhong’s lecture, he realized that China’s traditional technological intelligence system includes the scientific material and information services, as well as intelligence analysis and research work, and part of the work done by the public library is in this area. "In the future I will come more frequently to the library looking for what I need."

There are many like-minded listeners. Xiao Tang, a fourth-year university student said that he just realized that the library can collect information and make technological innovation.

Wu Jianzhong stressed that we should re-recognize the role of "science and technology", but he also proposed ways to further allow the market to play a decisive role in the allocation of resources, further develop the innovation vitality of SME, and further the develop regional energy in gathering resources, which is an important issues facing the whole society in the moment.