On September 1st, the Changzhou High-Energy Innovative City Construction Plan was officially released at the city's conference on integrating into the Shanghai (Yangtze River Delta) International Science and Technology Innovation Center. This plan provides a clear roadmap for Changzhou to deeply integrate into the national Yangtze River Delta science and technology innovation strategy and build itself into an innovation highland in the region. Looking back over the past five years, from the lights of laboratory instruments that never dim at night to the roar of machinery on industrial production floors; from the intellectual exchanges at major universities and research institutes to the emergence and growth of tech enterprises, Changzhou has firmly grasped the main theme of deep integration between technological innovation and industrial innovation, unwaveringly implementing its innovation-driven development strategy.
In 2025, the city's total R&D expenditure across all sectors reached 39.108 billion yuan, with R&D investment intensity rising to 3.62%. The Changzhou Science and Technology Innovation Promotion Regulations took effect, removing bottlenecks in the technology innovation system through local legislation. Leveraging the "direct, fast, and convenient" policy mechanism, the city allocated approximately 620 million yuan in municipal science and technology special funds, delivered over 1.68 billion yuan in innovation policy funds, and secured more than 1.6 billion yuan in provincial-level and above science and technology project funding. This year, the 20 hard-hitting policies for building a high-energy innovative city and the three-year action plan for the linked innovation and development of "famous parks, renowned institutes, and leading enterprises" have been successively implemented, gradually forming a comprehensive institutional framework covering enterprise cultivation, platform construction, technology transfer, tech finance, and talent attraction and training.
Grounding in industry, with technology and innovation as the soul, Changzhou is accelerating its high-quality development through rapid innovation.
Key Figures Over the Five Years:
R&D expenditure as a share of regional GDP: from 3.0% at the end of 2020 to 3.62% by the end of 2025.
The output value of high-tech industries as a share of the total output value of industries above a designated size: from 47.82% at the end of 2020 to 62.2% by the end of 2025.
High-value invention patents per 10,000 people: from 12.23 at the end of 2020 to 33.43 by the end of 2025.
The number of high-tech enterprises: from 2,497 at the end of 2020 to 5,788 by the end of 2025.
R&D personnel per 10,000 employed persons: from 209 at the end of 2020 to 319.5 by the end of 2025.
Provincial gazelle enterprises: newly added 75 in 2020, increasing to 153 in 2025.
Provincial (potential) unicorn enterprises: newly added 11 in 2020, increasing to 48 in 2025.
Provincial-level and above science and technology innovation platforms: from 750 at the end of 2020 to 1,343 by the end of 2025.
Enterprises are the cells of innovation, and the vitality of millions of market entities forms the most solid foundation of the city's scientific and technological innovation.
Over the past five years, a number of local enterprises in Changzhou have directly faced technical barriers, tackling challenges in high-end equipment, new materials, and robot core components, achieving a leap from following to running alongside, and even leading in certain fields. In the Xinzha Science and Technology Industrial Park in Zhonglou District, Yang Lifeng, an entrepreneur with a technical secondary school background, led his team at Changzhou Yatong CNC Technology Co., Ltd. in more than a decade of research and development. Together with Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, they developed China's first five-axis CNC tool grinder capable of processing polycrystalline diamond tools. Meanwhile, in the Changzhou High-tech Zone, 79-year-old Professor Zheng Yuanfang, a pioneer in the global field of bipedal robots, returned for a second venture, co-founding Jiangsu Huixing Power Technology Co., Ltd. with his student Li Shimeng. They are developing an entirely new type of dual-star gear reducer, targeting the "heart" of robot joints and challenging the long-standing foreign monopoly in this industry. One grassroots engineer and one returned professor vividly represent the dynamic innovation ecosystem of Changzhou's market entities.
In the past five years, Changzhou has implemented the "seedling cultivation" initiative for tech SMEs, building a complete, tiered training system for technology-based SMEs, high-tech enterprises, gazelle enterprises, unicorn enterprises, and technology-leading enterprises. By the end of 2025, the city had attracted a total of 4,603 technology-based SMEs and boasted 5,788 valid high-tech enterprises, double the number in 2020. It also had 523 provincial gazelle enterprises and 94 provincial potential unicorn enterprises, creating a vibrant landscape with leading enterprises standing tall and SMEs flourishing ubiquitously. Support policies for enterprise development are not just words on paper; they have been translated into tangible financial support that reaches the front lines of corporate R&D and directly into company accounts.
Changzhou has implemented the additional deduction policy for R&D expenses, providing special subsidies for corporate R&D investment and basic research growth, and clarifying that R&D expenses of state-owned enterprises are treated as profit. It has also used mechanisms like "open competition for projects" and "horse racing" systems, established special funds for joint innovation consortiums to tackle critical challenges, and encouraged chain-leading enterprises to take the lead in breaking down industrial chain bottlenecks. For instance, Trinasolar took the lead in establishing the Yangtze River Delta High-Efficiency Tandem Solar Cell Technology Innovation Consortium with Fudan University, achieving a "zero breakthrough" for Changzhou in this area. In the Changzhou Science and Education Town, a team led by Academician Wang Jianyu founded Xingyao Guangyu, advancing the standardized and mass production of satellite payloads. Meanwhile, Weiyi Intelligent is deeply engaged in the embodied intelligence track, with its industrial AI inspection solutions being adopted in several manufacturing plants.
To reduce burdens and loosen constraints for tech companies, Changzhou has continuously optimized the fault-tolerance mechanism for state-owned venture capital. For direct investments in single projects at the seed and angel stages, the maximum allowable loss rate is now 100%, and the fund's duration can be extended up to 15 years. Financial products such as the "Suke Loan" and "Talent Loan" are also being expanded, bringing the "living water" of finance to startups. Talent is the primary resource for innovation. The iteratively upgraded "Longcheng Talent Program" has attracted talents from all over the world, offering top strategic talents up to 50 million yuan in special support and guaranteeing that exceptional individuals receive tailored packages with no upper limit. The program also publishes a directory of urgent talent needs for key industries, with highly paid critical talents eligible for subsidies of up to 500,000 yuan. A significant number of academician teams, returned PhDs, and industrial craftsmen have found expansive stages for their careers in Changzhou.
Strengthening high-energy innovation platforms is the key strategy for building an innovation highland in the Yangtze River Delta.
In the Science and Education Town, various laboratory equipment operates continuously; at the China-Israel Innovation Park, Chinese and foreign researchers engage in discussions over technical solutions; and major science and technology innovation platforms in various high-tech zones are making great strides from being "established" to becoming "strong." Changzhou has established a well-defined innovation layout around the "one core, one park, and multiple zones," positioning the Science and Education Town as the city's innovation core, achieving full coverage across all high-tech zones and districts. The city has also continuously pushed for the enhancement of its "two laboratories and three centers." Currently, the Intelligent Manufacturing Longcheng Laboratory is striving to become a provincial-level laboratory, gathering top-tier research teams led by academicians to focus on core technologies for industrial mother machines. The State Key Laboratory of Photovoltaic Science and Technology is working to become the core source of photovoltaic industry technology, while the Yangtze River Delta Carbon Fiber and Composite Materials Technology Innovation Center is aiming for national-level platform status. Six provincial-level key laboratories led by enterprises in the city have been approved, covering frontier areas like intelligent vehicles, brain-computer interfaces, and 6G optical communications. Companies like Chengxin Semiconductor and Ruishen'an Medical, leveraging these platforms, have made breakthroughs in critical "bottleneck" technologies in RF substrate materials and closed-loop neuromodulation devices, respectively.
The city has also deepened reforms on "dual high synergy" and "three-name linkage," normalized "school-enterprise two-way" engagement, and implemented a dual-appointment mechanism for "technology vice presidents" and "industrial professors" to ensure that research achievements leave the lab and enter the production line. For example, relying on the public pilot platform of the Nanjing Normal University Changzhou Synthetic Biology Industrial Research Institute, the startup Haoho Biology does not need to build its own expensive large-scale equipment. Instead, it iterates its processes on the platform, advancing towards a 5,000-ton large-scale production line, which significantly lowers the industrialization threshold for startup teams. To bolster the supporting infrastructure for high-energy innovation platforms, the city has introduced supportive policies. Third-party professional service institutions building concept validation centers or specialized pilot platforms can receive up to 1 million yuan and 2 million yuan in construction funding respectively, and can also receive annual operational rewards of up to 1 million yuan based on their public service performance, effectively reducing the costs for research teams to mature and industrialize their results.
embracing Open Innovation, Changzhou Actively Integrates into the Yangtze River Delta Innovation Network.
On September 1st, the Changzhou Municipal People's Government signed strategic cooperation memorandums with the Shanghai Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Nanjing University. Changzhou adheres to the philosophy of "not seeking ownership, but seeking use," leveraging the innovation resources of the Shanghai (Yangtze River Delta) International Science and Technology Innovation Center to transform cross-regional scientific and technological wisdom into momentum for Changzhou's industrial development. As the new wave of technological revolution surges, opportunities are fleeting. Changzhou is anchoring its "1028" industrial system and building a "6+X" future industry innovation matrix, continuously spawning new tracks with technological innovation and cultivating new quality productive forces. Application scenarios are the best testing grounds. The city is consistently increasing the supply of innovative application scenarios, adding more than 100 typical ones each year. On factory floors, Zenith Steel has deployed an AI intelligent agent for scrap steel detection with 100% accuracy in vehicle identification. In hospital lobbies, humanoid guide robots are providing convenient services. At photovoltaic bases, AI virtual power plants accurately forecast power generation. The city also regularly hosts brand events like "AI+" lectures and "Origin Space" AI salons, and has innovatively introduced policies like "computing power coupons" and "Token coupons," fostering a vibrant industrial ecosystem that champions innovation and encourages exploration.
A wave of fresh innovative practices is emerging across various tracks. In the embodied intelligence track, the Wujin National High-tech Zone has launched an embodied intelligence data experimental platform, attracting domestic tech teams for real-world testing. Companies like JAKA Robotics, AUBO Robotics, and Weiyi Intelligent are growing rapidly, and the local robot industry chain now clusters nearly 150 companies. In the synthetic biology track, Academician Huang He's team has made breakthroughs in key DHA oil technology, breaking the overseas monopoly. Companies like Zhihao Biology, Xinyisheng Life, and Haoho Biology have also accelerated their growth. In the new energy storage track, the Tianmu Lake Advanced Energy Storage Research Institute continues to iterate on new storage technologies, the Jintan Salt Cavern Compressed Air Energy Storage National Demonstration Project is operating stably, and Changzhou Nakuhai is advancing sodium-ion battery technology from the lab to practical applications. In the first half of this year, industrial enterprises above a designated size in the city's future industries achieved an output value of over 100 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.51%. New quality productive forces are growing at an accelerated pace. Policy support is also continuously bolstering the development of future industries. The city is intensifying its cultivation of listed backup enterprises included in the future industry innovation matrix, with innovation hub projects eligible for up to 5 million yuan in rewards and joint innovation consortium projects receiving up to 5 million yuan. At the same time, it is improving its coordination and application mechanisms to secure a commanding position in future tracks.
Innovation never ends, and the time for hard work is now. Standing at a new starting point, Changzhou will use the construction of a high-energy innovative city as its primary lever. It will continue to amplify the combined advantages of policy, platforms, enterprises, and talent, fully integrating into the construction of the Shanghai (Yangtze River Delta) International Science and Technology Innovation Center. The city will continuously promote the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation, striving to write an impressive chapter in its quest to become an innovation highland in the Yangtze River Delta.