IBM (IBM) has announced the launch of a new research lab in Shanghai to enhance its investment in the business sectors in China.

Located at the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park in the Pudong New Area, the IBM Shanghai research lab, as a part of the company's China Research Laboratory, will focus on the research of such fields as data collection and analysis, Web-delivered service computing and cloud computing as well as help IBM to attract more talents from southern China.

John Kelly, IBM's senior vice-president and director of research, says that the nature of research is changing. It is more open, more global and more collaborative. The company is coming to Shanghai because of the exceptional talent and the greatest people are located there.

Although many multinational companies are starting to reduce their overseas investments to cope with the global economic crisis, Kelly said that he is confident about IBM's future in a fierce market environment in China.

In 1995, IBM established its China Research Laboratory in Beijing and now it has more than 200 researchers in China. With annual spends of USD6 billion on research and development, the company has about 3,000 researchers in its eight research labs across the world.