An investment promotion conference for Suzhou New District was held in Shanghai on Friday, with signings of 22 projects worth 38.2 billion yuan ($5.6 billion) and opening ceremonies of two innovation centers.

The projects include Suzhou Japan New-Tech Bay, a 23.3-hectare industrial park which aims to attract high-tech companies from Japan, a manufacturing center for medical equipment of vascular intervention, and a Baidu virtual reality (Suzhou) center.

A research institute for the Beidou navigation system, 5G and artificial internet-of-things technologies and the innovation center of Green Tech Bank (Suzhou) for sustainable development were also unveiled at the conference.

18 companies, such as Savills, CBRE and PwC, signed memoranda of understandings for cooperation with the district during the conference.

Officials from the district also gave a briefing on the incentive policies, including cash subsidies for housing to lure top talents, exemption of rent for biomedical companies new to the district and R&D funds for "unicorn" companies.

Fang Wenbang, Party chief of Suzhou New District, said the district is set to take advantage of the national strategy of the Yangtze River Delta integration and hopes to work with Shanghai to welcome companies around the world to settle in the delta.

Around 500 representatives from companies, foreign chambers of commerce, and academia in Shanghai attended the conference.

Roughly 100 kilometers away from Shanghai, Suzhou New District of Jiangsu province was designated by the central government as a national high-tech industrial development zone in 1992. It covers 322 square kilometers and has a population of 970,000.