This paper does an empirical research on how human capital characteristics influence the innovation ability of Shanghai manufacturing industry based on data of 86 big，medium and small listed companies．The main conclusions are as below．The average age of senior executives is inversely proportional to the ability of innovation．The education level of them is in portion to the ability of innovation．The term of them is also inversely proportional to the ability of innovation．However，the proportion of female senior executives has no effect on innovative ability．