Shaanxi boosts progress of innovative growth

Northwest China's Shaanxi province has taken various measures to boost innovation-driven development in recent years and will keep exploring resources to achieve self-reliance of high-level technology, according to Liu Guozhong, Party secretary of the province.

The capacity of technological innovation in the province continues to increase with a number of major national scientific and technological infrastructure projects having been established, Liu said during a news conference on Wednesday introducing the province's achievements made in the last decade.

The first batch of national applied mathematics centers have been approved in the province and the world's first zero-carbon smart energy center has been built.

High-end drones and other technologies developed in Shaanxi lead the country while 30 percent of the nation's scientific and technological force in the aerospace sector is concentrated in the province, Liu said.

An innovation-driven platform, Qinchuangyuan, was built to integrate scientific innovation with the industrial chain, promoting scientific and technology results to the market and incubating more enterprises.

So far, nearly 1,100 technology-based enterprises and 65 financial institutions are on the platform.

The platform only took 42 days to incubate its first project on nano-intelligent energy absorbing materials, Liu said, adding that the team was corporatized and the technological results were commercialized within four months.

A time-honored gateway for opening to the world through the Silk Road, Shaanxi has continued to be the frontier for the country's opening to the West after the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed.

"We are accelerating the construction of the land-sea trade corridor connecting Asia and Europe," Liu said.

The largest railway logistics hub in Asia was built in the province while the airport in Xi'an, the provincial capital, has formed an international airline network connecting five continents, he added.

In April, the country's first tax refund pilot policy at a land port was implemented in the province, allowing exporters to receive tax refunds in as quick as one day after the delivery of goods.

Zhao Yide, governor of the province, said Shaanxi has been developing a county-centered economy, which is essential for narrowing the gap between urban and rural areas.

The county-centered economy accounted for 40 percent of the total economic aggregate in the province and it grew by 7.7 percent annually over the past decade.

The province has taken 10 effective measures such as upgrading county-level industrial parks, developing local specialties and improving rural transportation, Zhao said.