Zhejiang makes strides in becoming advanced manufacturing hub

Zhejiang authorities hosted the 2021 High-quality Development Conference for Zhejiang's Manufacturing Industry on March 26.

The government had announced at the 2020 edition of the conference a new mission for the province to become a global hub for advanced manufacturing. This year's conference revealed the progress that the province has made in the past year.

According to authorities, Zhejiang has expanded the size, optimized the structure, and enhanced the creativity of its manufacturing sector. In 2020, the province's above-designated-size manufacturers (those with annual operating revenues of roughly $3.1 million or more) generated 1.5 trillion yuan ($228.3 billion) in value-add and 554.5 billion yuan in profits, up 5.8 percent and 14.7 percent respectively from the previous year.

In 2020, the number of industrial clusters in the province raking in over 10 billion yuan, 100 billion yuan, and 1 trillion yuan were 200 plus, 14, and 3 respectively. Five of them were among the 20 finalists in the 2020 Advanced Manufacturing Clusters in China contest, which was organized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Zhejiang is currently home to 67 "single-item champion manufacturers" and 47 "champion products", the total of which accounts for 19.1 percent of the national aggregate, the highest proportion among all provincial-level region.

In 2020, R&D expenses in the province's above-designated-size industrial companies grew 18 percent year-on-year, accounting for 2.6 percent of their operating revenue, 0.3 percentage points higher than the previous year.

The digitization index in the province's manufacturing sector is the highest in the country. As of the end of 2020, more than 410,000 companies were connected to cloud computing platforms and 62,600 5G base stations had been put into operation in the province.