Wuxi airport zone posts high-quality growth

Sunan Shuofang International Airport has its extension plan given green light. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Area becomes key innovation and cooperation hub in Jiangsu province

The Wuxi Airport Economic Development Zone has delivered high-quality growth while striving to become a hub for innovation and international cooperation, becoming an important link in the transportation network of the Yangtze River Delta.

Industrial output of the zone, located in Xinwu district of the city of Wuxi in East China's Jiangsu province, maintained steady growth in the first half of the year.

The total output value of industries above designated size — enterprises earning at least 20 million yuan ($2.85 million) annually — between January and June surpassed 27 billion yuan, up 12.4 percent year-on-year, said Chen Weiliang, deputy director of the zone's administrative committee.

Innovation-driven growth

Home to 131 high-tech companies as of 2021, the zone has achieved rapid, high-quality growth through increased innovation capabilities and financial support for research and development.

To boost innovation, the zone has established the Yangtze River Delta Science and Technology Innovation Research Institute in collaboration with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and a subcenter of a national technology transfer center in collaboration with Jiangnan University.

"We plan to build up a whole-chain sci-tech innovation community featuring a combination of makerspaces, accelerators, incubators and sci-tech parks in five years' time," Chen said. A makerspace is an area where people can come together to create or invent things, either using traditional crafts or technology.

In 2021, the zone's subsidies for R&D activities increased by 1.77 percent over 2020. The effective R&D investment of companies above designated size based in the zone grew by 27.46 percent year-on-year.

Holding the belief that people are the most important resource, the zone has been working to bring in high-caliber professionals in industries such as new energy and biomedicine to bolster high-quality growth.

The zone has stepped up cooperation with areas such as the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, while working to bring in more resources, foster an enabling environment for professionals, establish a market-oriented talent identification mechanism and attract more high-level personnel by setting up workstations for academicians and postdoctoral students.