Yizheng Automatic Equipment Co., Ltd. produces transmission chains for automatic equipment. To date, the company has received one patent for invention, three utility model patents, and six software copyrights. Its investment into R&D accounts for more than 10% of the main business income, though the company was established in 2017.

Among the 60 companies that were hoping to be declared and certified as national high-tech companies, 47 were approved, a year-over-year increase of 62%. As of now, there are 159 national high-tech companies in Yiwu, and the number has grown steadily for several consecutive years. Among them, 82 are new materials companies—about half of the total—and 35 are advanced manufacturing and automation companies.

In recent years, Yiwu has focused on strengthening its pillar industries and creating new economic growth poles. Meanwhile, it is constantly innovating old systems and mechanisms, optimizing the environment for innovation, cultivating creative entities, enhancing the comprehensive competitiveness of the companies, increasing investment in R&D, and promoting technological innovation.

In order to encourage companies to be certified high-tech companies, Yiwu is integrating the departments of science and technology, finance, taxation, and more, improving the full-process service system for cultivating high-tech companies, meeting the needs of high-tech small- and medium-sized companies, and establishing a backup archive to help companies get certified as high-tech.

These services will be key for the cultivation and development of high-tech companies, and Yiwu will implement important guidance and assistance in order to cultivate traditional companies into high-tech enterprises and help them develop into emerging industries.

National high-tech companies have a valuable “state-level” brand, which can effectively enhance their competitiveness in the market. For Yiwu, high-tech companies are the most prominent contributors for developing new products, which helps new industries to emerge and creates new economic growth. Focusing on the innovative development of industries with distinctive features and advantages such as new energy, new materials, and high-end equipment manufacturing, Yiwu actively guides and encourages companies to accelerate the cultivation of high-tech products, vigorously promotes the development of high-tech industries, and continuously optimizes products and industrial structure. Last year, the output value of new products of industrial companies above the designated size was 25.936 billion RMB, a year-over-year increase of 23.67%. Meanwhile, the number of applications for patents in Yiwu has remained above 1,000, and among them nearly 400 have been authorized.

Cultivating national high-tech companies has started this year. Since March, Yiwu Science and Technology Bureau has visited and provided guidance to 133 aspiring high-tech companies in Yiwu to accelerate the transformation of technological small- and medium-sized companies into national high-tech companies. (By Wang Ting, translated by Zhang Jiajia, edited by Kendra Fiddler)