Anhui banks on science and tech innovation

New growth drivers will emerge in the Chinese economy's new development stage, and the eastern province of Anhui will be one of them, the province's governor said on Thursday.

Addressing a news conference in Beijing organized by the State Council Information Office, Anhui Governor Wang Qingxian said the province "has emerged as a powerhouse of industrial development and manufacturing".

The province's GDP last year was 4.7 trillion yuan ($652 billion), up from 1.9 trillion yuan in 2013.

Its development has involved domestic and foreign enterprises.

For example, Volkswagen Group China announced in April that it will invest 2.5 billion euros ($2.7 billion) in the expansion of its innovation hub in Hefei, the provincial capital.

At the heart of the hub is Volkswagen China Technology Company, the carmaker's largest development center outside Germany. The company was founded in the Hefei Economic and Technological Development Area last year with an initial investment of 1 billion euros.

Corning, a glass and ceramics maker from the United States, has invested in 11 projects in the Hefei Xinzhan High-tech Industrial Development Zone since 2015, with investment totaling more than $3 billion.

Anhui has attracted investment from about 5,000 foreign companies, according to the provincial government.

"What those international investors care most about is the business environment of Anhui," Wang said in response to a question from China Daily.

In the Business Environment Evaluation for Thousands of Private Enterprises in the past two years, Anhui ranked in the top 10 nationwide in terms of comprehensive scores and had the highest reputation ranking.

The authorities said the province's rapid development in recent years has benefited a lot from the manufacturing sector, as well as scientific and technological innovation.

Anhui's manufacturing industry investment had maintained a consistent growth rate above 18 percent for 26 consecutive months by March, Wang said.

Seven carmakers, including Chery, Nio, Volkswagen and BYD, have invested heavily in Anhui, and the province produced 2.49 million automobiles last year, of which 868,000 were new energy vehicles.

Executive Vice-Governor Fei Gaoyun said the province exported about 1.15 million vehicles, with one in four vehicles exported from China made in Anhui.

Anhui is now home to nearly 20,000 national high-tech companies, with more than 4,200 added last year, Wang said.

The ratio of research and development expenditure to GDP, known as R&D intensity, stood at 2.56 percent in 2022, compared with the national average of 2.54 percent, according to statistics released in October. The ratio for Hefei was 3.91 percent.

"Anhui has strong innovation, partly because we have spared no effort in supporting innovation for decades," Wang said.

Anhui is home to more megascience facilities than any other province, and was given approval by the central authorities in 2017 to build the Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, one of four such centers across the country.

"Anhui's fiscal spending in the science and technology sector ranks fourth among provincial regions," Wang said.

Adhering to market principles, the province founded the Grand Union of Innovation in Hefei in 2022 to give innovative startups all-around service, including helping them find application scenarios and attract investors.

By the end of March it had attracted 1,391 innovation-oriented enterprises and more than 200 funds of various types, with the capital volume totaling over 230 billion yuan, Wang said.