Tianjin sets ambitious goal to be technology innovation center

Tianjin is positioning itself to advance its technological innovation capabilities as part of its contribution to the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, said its mayor Zhang Gong at the local two sessions government work report on Tuesday.

"This year, the city aims to establish itself as a technology innovation center in the region and attract projects worth up to 160 billion yuan ($22.4 billion), thus accelerating the coordinated development of the area," he said.

Echoing Zhang's sentiments, Chen Haibo, Party chief and general manager of China Unicom Tianjin, and a local deputy of the city's people's congress, emphasized the company's ongoing efforts to drive regional growth by expediting high-tech projects, including those related to big data, artificial intelligence, industrial internet, and information innovation security.

Last February, China Unicom Tianjin announced its plans to invest up to 10.3 billion yuan in Tianjin during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) to bolster high-tech innovation.

Subsequently, the company invested 5 billion yuan into its first Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integrated project—the inaugural digital industrial park in Wuqing district, Tianjin, which would serve as a regional hub.

"In just one year, the project's first phase was operational," he added.

The mayor also highlighted Tianjin's commitment to attracting more high-tech and educational resources from Beijing to the Tiankai Higher Education Innovation Park, which two esteemed universities in Tianjin initiated—Nankai University and Tianjin University—last May.

Within six months, the park has drawn the interest of 1,200 high-tech companies and 225 investment firms.

Notably, a company in the park became the first in the country to receive a license to conduct business in the Brain-Machine Interface, a pioneering technology that Tianjin University leads globally.

During the local two sessions, Andon Health, a medical appliance company founded by a Tianjin University graduate, announced a partnership with several investment funds to collectively inject 5 billion yuan into the park to bolster technological innovation, establishing it as an emerging high-tech center in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Furthermore, 100 investment funds declared their intention to collaborate with Andon, channeling up to 10 billion yuan into the park.

Andon Health's president, Liu Yi, said, "Over the next five years, Tiankai is poised to attract 500 companies, emerging as a new startup innovation hub in the region and across China."