Ma'anshan aims to be a hub of innovation

Some 300 high-tech enterprises power the transformation of Anhui province's most-promising prefecture-level city

MA'ANSHAN - Machine tools, being big and expensive, are generally considered not easy to sell. But at Ma'anshan-based Anhui Zhongde Machine Tool Co Ltd, both production and sales are booming.

Its huge fi nished storage facility is full of shearing machines of various types, ready for export to the United Kingdom, Russia, Costa Rica, or sales to other regions in China.

"Besides the excellent product quality, our booming business owes much to our innovative marketing," said company president Zheng Changyu, who opened his mobile phone to show a security checking system for his company's products.

The Ma'anshan bridge across the Yangtze River opens to traffic on Dec 31, 2013.

The Ma'anshan port is one of the 10 biggest ports on the Yangtze River. Photos Provided to China Daily

Workers give final touches for heavy-duty trucks at Hualing Xingma Automobile Co Ltd located in Ma'anshan.

Shearing machines stored at Ma'anshan-based Anhui Zhongde Machine Tool Co Ltd, ready for export.

Via a simple search, every machine tool sold shows a code number and a full name for the sales contract. "This is a unique 'ID' for our product," Zheng said, noting that in order to expand overseas markets, his company has built sales websites in Chinese, English, Spanish and Russian.

"We have six export professionals, who speak fluent English," he said, adding that based on its perfect management and advanced technology from Germany, Zhongde has exported products to Australia, Brazil, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Ukraine, Russia, the UK, Spain, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, India and other countries.

Anhui Zhongde is an example of the eff orts made in recent years by the Ma'anshan government, which is seeking to make the city into a center of innovation, with innovation as the No 1 driving force in transforming and upgrading the city's economic structure so it can enhance its core competitiveness.

In 2016, the city's innovation base witnessed an output value of 117.2 billion yuan ($17.2 billion), with a growth rate much higher than the rate its industrial output increased.

With more than 300 high-tech enterprises in the city, Ma'anshan now ranks fourth among Anhui province's 16 prefecture-level cities in innovation strength and was ranked No 2 for its innovation potential. Its R&D expenditure last year accounted for 2.63 percent of the city's GDP.

Ma'anshan has achieved a great deal with its innovation-driven strategy that focuses on prioritizing science and technology innovation, forging a heavy industry center through industrial restructuring, as well as attracting high-end talents by building a conducive atmosphere for innovation.

Prioritizing S&T innovation

On Dec 20, 2016, during the 2017 Chinese Commercial Vehicle Model Selection, the H6 model tractor truck manufactured by Ma'anshan-based Hualing Xingma Automobile Co Ltd won two top awards: for fuel-efficiency and technological advancement.

The annual event, the 10th of its kind hosted by China Auto News and the China Automotive Engineering Research Institute, is considered the most authoritative for commercial vehicles.

Hualing's H6 series, the company's latest products, have been well received by clients thanks to their fuel efficiency, functionality and safety. Winning the top award showcased Hualing's technology for its independent-brand products.

By putting innovation as the No 1 driving force, Ma'anshan has been optimizing its industrial structure and nurturing new innovation players in recent years, in a bid to build an innovation-centered modern industrial system.

Statistics show that in 2016, Ma'anshan issued 58.68 million yuan to 290 enterprises as "science and technology innovation coupons", nurtured 50 "little giants" in science and technology - elevating the city's total number of high-tech firms to over 300 - and helped 20 local companies to go public.

Meanwhile, Ma'anshan also increased its input in science and technology innovation and diversified its input method. In 2016, Ma'anshan obtained 36.16 million yuan from the province as policy subsidies for the city's 156 projects, while promoting the combination of science and technology with financial funds. Seven enterprises gained 27 million yuan in loans through patent pledges.

In 2016, the city also consolidated its innovation stages by establishing joint R&D platforms with prestigious Chinese universities such as Peking University and Nanjing University. It also added 10 provinciallevel enterprise technology centers, three academician workstations and three postdoctoral workstations. The city's Cixu High-tech Zone was listed as one of the city's first intellectual property demonstration parks.

In addition, the city also improved its business incubation platforms last year. The Ma'anshan High-Tech Business Service Center was named a national model for small and micro-enterprise entrepreneurial innovation and attracted 93 as incubation businesses. The city's one-stop science and technology service hall off ers advice and financial consultations, and patent agents for more than 800 applications.

Forging a heavy manufacturing center

Gao Haijian, president of Ma'anshan Iron & Steel Group, or Masteel as it is known, said China's domestically produced wheels for high-speed trains traveling faster than 250 kilometers per hour will be ready to replace imported ones in the first half of this year.

Masteel, the largest enterprise in the city, signed an agreement in 2008 with the Ministry of Railways, now the China Railway Corporation, to localize the manufacturing of wheels for high-speed trains.

"We want our Masteel brand to better venture into the outside world," Gao said, noting that during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period, the company is focusing on product upgrading and internationalization.

Masteel Group, which has four companies and an office engaged in overseas business, witnessed rapidly rising exports in 2016.

This is one of the moves by the city to optimize and upgrade its industrial structure.

In recent years, in order to better optimize and upgrade its industrial structure, Ma'anshan has also clarified what are the key industries and key enterprises it will support, so as to promote the development of pillar industries and enterprises. It has also issued an Industrial Multiplier Action Plan (2014-17), to vigorously develop transportation, the metallurgical and mining industry, special equipment and other machinery manufacturing.

At present, the machinery manufacturing industry has grown into a pillar industry aiding the city's industrial development.

By following the trend of national industrial policy, Ma'anshan has encouraged the city's traditional industries of automobile manufacturing and metal products to upgrade by utilizing high-tech and advanced technology. Since 2011, the city has ushered in three new State-level enterprise technology centers, 46 provincial-level ones and 103 city-level ones. A group of leading machinery manufacturing enterprises has also forged its own development path of specialization, refinement and uniqueness, quickly becoming a new force for industrial development.

The city also extended the development of its ironbased new materials and high-tech industry clusters, in a bid to strengthen its leading industries such as automobile manufacturing. Besides its heavy-duty trucks and specially-constructed vehicles, Hualing Xingma Automobile is also adding mini cars, new energy and clean energy vehicles.

Masteel Heavy Machinery Manufacturing Co and the Taier Heavy Industry Co Ltd are exploring highend products in metallurgical equipment, rail transport and construction machinery.

To speed up the development of the machinery manufacturing industry, the city has set a new goal: to gain a main business income of 11 billion yuan from machinery processing by 2020.

Attracting high-end talents with an atmosphere conducive to innovation

On Oct 20, 2016, Ma'anshan convened its science and technology awards and innovation-driven development strategy mobilization meeting, commending some outstanding individuals and enterprises for their scientific and technological contributions.

Xiang Honghai, vice-president of Sinosteel Ma'anshan Research Institute, was the city's major scientific and technological achievement award winner. He said his award showed the city's firm determination to promote scientific and technological innovation, as well as being recognition of the contribution made by science and technology professionals.

In recent years, in order to enhance an innovationdriven strategy, Ma'anshan has been creating an atmosphere conducive to innovation and attracting high-end professionals. While ranking third in the province in the main indicators of scientific and technological innovation in 2016, Ma'anshan has witnessed significant progress in scientific and technological innovation, and become an important part of the province's advancement in science and technology.

Ma'anshan released a rule on managing special funds to attract high-end science and technology professionals. In 2016, the city attracted 30 teams of high-end talents, fulfilling the year's annual target.

To better attract talents, the city has also promoted a public entrepreneurship platform. In 2016, the city identified 10 projects as the first batch for its business maker space. The Blue Sea Public Space has become a national-level public creation space, while the Macom Ckerhome is registered at the provincial-level.

To help business startups, Ma'anshan also hosted the Second Global (Ma'anshan) Creatica Competition. The contest also recommended two winning items and teams to the national-level Sino-US Young Maker Competition for 2016, which won first prize for business group and maker group.

Over the years, Ma'anshan has witnessed marked achievements in its twin engines - popular entrepreneurship and innovation. Ma'anshan National Agricultural Science and Technology Park was admitted to the country's first group of "Star Creation Space". Meanwhile, the Fuma Zhilian Pioneering Park was elevated into a provincial-level "Youth Venture Park", helping set a large number of pioneers on the road of innovation and entrepreneurship.