Data shows that the number of companies with more than 10 million yuan ($1.55 million) in sales in Huishan district, Wuxi, reached 32 last year, with three companies surpassing 100 million yuan in sales, according to the Wuxi government.
"Our annual output value was just over 1 million yuan in 2012, while jumping to 140 million yuan in the second year," said Wu Qiang, president of Sineng, a national high-tech enterprise in Huishan district, involved in electrical power electronics products.
"Sineng purchased a photovoltaic (PV) department of a Fortune Global 500 company in 2014," said Wu, adding that the company's annual sales hit 340 million yuan in 2015.
"The input in research and development accounted for 5 percent of the total sales last year," said Wu, "What's more, we recently reached an agreement with the Institute of Electrical Engineering of Chinese Academy of Sciences on industry-university-research cooperation."
Sineng's solar PV energy project, was recently approved by the Jiangsu government as a key R&D project.
"Senior talented people is the key to success in enterprise transformation," Wu told reporters.
The team at Wuxi Graphene Film Co in the Wuxi Graphene Industry Development and Demonstration Zone came from the University of Texas in Austin, U.S., three years ago.
It has developed into the first enterprise involved in the mass production of graphene conductive films across the country, producing 20 million graphene touch panels annually. This year its sales are anticipated to hit 40 million yuan.
Last year, the Wuxi Graphene Industry Development and Demonstration Zone got a National Torch Special Industrial Base designation from the Science and Technology Ministry, and some 30 companies have already settled in the zone, according to the zone’s director Ye Mingjiang.
At present, technology-based enterprises in Huishan have introduced experts including 126 with doctorate qualifications, 292 with masters, as well as about 2,600 research personnel.
Officials say Huishan district will release more supporting policies for leading personnel this year to meet the needs of local businesses.
In addition, the local government will continue to support technology-based enterprises to go public, said a director from the district's commission of development and reform.
Last year, some businesses, such as the biotech company AGCU ScienTech Incorporation, were purchased by public companies and some, like Wuxi NuoRui Electronic Technology Co. and Cellular Biomedicine Group debuted on the New Third Board exchange.
Edited by Owen Fishwick
