Wuxi: strengthening the city through industry development

The city of Wuxi, Jiangsu province has been sticking to its strategy of strengthening itself through industrial development and has made great achievements in modern industry during the last year.

Wuxi's industry development last year

According to Wuxi's economy and information technology commission, Wuxi obtained a three percent year-on-year increase of industrial output and a 10 percent year-on-year increase in industrial investments for 2016. The output value of Wuxi's hi-tech industries earned over 20 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2 percent. The city also realized 31.4 patents per annum for each 10,000 people, with science and technology contributions to economic growth jumping up to 63 percent.

Thirteen Wuxi-based enterprises entered China's Top 500 companies last year, including 22 selected as China's Top 500 manufacturing enterprises. The city also has added 17 new listed companies in the foreign market, making the total number 111. The number of companies listed on the New Third Board, or the National Equities Exchange and Quotation (NEEQ) system, has reached 207. Incoming overseas capital reached $3.4 billion in 2016, 60 percent of which is from manufacturing industries.

Industrial expo with worldwide influence

As the host of the last year's World Internet of Things Expo (WIOT), Wuxi is fast becoming a top choice for international tech giants and the IoT industry.

Attracting more than 4,000 participants, including senior figures from IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Huawei and Alibaba, the expo was both a showcase of the latest advancements in the field of IoT and an indicator of China's influence within the field.

As of 2015, there have been 1,171 IoT companies in the city with more than 150,000 employees, generating an output value of 168.8 billion yuan. Wuxi has also undertaken over 2,000 provincial IoT R&D projects and applied for nearly 5,000 IoT patents. As China's only national innovative demonstration zone for IoT, more than half of the international standards of the field were first established in the city.

Rejuvenating Wuxi's economy by developing its real economy

According to a government official of Wuxi's economy and information technology commission, the foundation of Wuxi's economy lies in its production of goods and services, and the city government should pay more attention to it. He added that the government should also balance between the real and virtual economies. Strategic emerging industries should also be given priority, and traditional industries should be upgraded with new technology.