Sci-tech burgeoning in Jiangsu
Jiangsu province in East China, famous for its prosperous economy, has made remarkable progress toward building itself into a science and technology powerhouse.
Wang Qin, head of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of
Science and Technology, said high-performing sci-tech can provide support for the modernization of the province.
The province unveiled a fiveyear plan aimed at the highlevel development of its science and technology last September. One of the objectives put forward by the plan is that by 2025, Jiangsu’s investment in research and development is expected to account for 3.2% of its GDP. The output value of large high-tech enterprises will account for about 50% of the province’s total industrial output value.
The local government also plans to attract another 25 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering and another 28,000 expats to work in the province.
Another target is to build an innovative scientific and technological platform. It is to be composed of the Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute; three laboratories which can compete with their counterparts at home and abroad; and more
than 10 provincial innovation centers focusing on areas such as integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, environment, new energy, new materials and ocean engineering.
“Jiangsu is a province that is strong in its science, education, industry and economic
growth. It is Jiangsu’s responsibility to contribute to innovation-driven development,” said Yang Guishan, president of the Nanjing branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Jiangsu, in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, is the only province in China where
all prefecture-level cities are among the top 100 urban economies in the nation. It is also part of the Yangtze River Delta, one of six world-class urban clusters, according to the government.
Since 2009, Jiangsu province’s per capita GDP has ranked first in China, and it has been one of the most economically active provinces in China. Between 2013-20, the province’s GDP grew by an average of 7.3% every year.
Statistics from the Jiangsu Information Office showed that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, its GDP increased 3.7% in 2020.
“Jiangsu is one of China’s beacons of innovation,” a local official said. It has 190 key national and provincial laboratories, and 276 science and technology service platforms as well as 3,978 engineering technology research centers.
Among them, the Purple Mountain Laboratories, Gusu Laboratory and Taihu Laboratory are remarkable as they have significant projects going on, according to the government.
In 2020, more than 8,000 new high-tech enterprises were created. The total number in the province exceeded 32,000, ranking second nationwide.
According to Wang, the province has set up an intergovernmental cooperative mechanism for industrial R&D with nine countries and regions. These include Israel, the United Kingdom, Finland, Norway and Singapore. To date, more than 170 projects have been launched via the mechanism.