Changsha's innovation capability ranks 8th nationwide

A national innovative cities monitoring and evaluation report release and expert consultation meeting was held in Beijing on February 15. At the meeting, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China released monitoring and evaluation reports on the innovation capability of national innovative cities in 2022. Among the 103 national innovative cities, Changsha's innovation capability ranked 8th nationwide. A list of the country's top 100 cities for innovation capability was also announced. Changsha ranked 10th on the list.

According to the results of the evaluation on the innovation capability of national innovative cities, the top 10 cities are: Shenzhen, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Xi'an, Suzhou, Changsha, Hefei and Qingdao.

This year marks the fourth release of the series reports. Some indicators have been adjusted, including the number of students in ordinary colleges and universities per 10,000 people and the number of high-level sci-tech talents. The move aimed to guide cities to coordinate and advance the integrated development of education, science and technology, and talents and make them strategic pillars for building innovation-oriented cities.

In recent years, Changsha has insisted on putting sci-tech innovation at the core of high-quality development, with its foundation for sci-tech innovation continuously consolidated. In 2022, the whole society invested 36.71 billion yuan in R&D, up 17.1%. Among them, the R&D investment by enterprises accounted for 76.6%, ranking first in central China. The number of high-tech enterprises reached 6,588, ranking second in central China. The added value of high-tech industries constituted 29.6% of the city's GDP, ranking first in central China. The technical contract turnover amounted to 82.36 billion yuan, up 54.3% year on year. Around 38% of sci-tech achievements were commercialized locally.

Changsha boasts more than 10 national development platforms, including the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan National Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone, the National New Generation Artificial Intelligence Innovative Development Pilot Zone, the National Demonstration Base for the Integration of Culture and Science and Technology, the National Saline-alkali Tolerant Rice Technology Innovation Center, and the National Third-generation Semiconductor Technology Innovation Center (Hunan). It has a total of 2.8 million professionals, including 58 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering and 710 international talents.

In particular, Changsha has focused on constructing high-end innovation platforms and cultivating national strategic sci-tech forces. The construction of "three areas and two mountains" has been accelerated, and that of ten iconic sci-tech innovation projects, including the four major laboratories of the province, is forging ahead at full throttle. All these provide strong support for building Changsha into a hub of sci-tech innovation with core competitiveness.