In recent years, Wuxi National High-tech District has played a vital part in the city's major transformation, scientific and technological innovation and opening-up

Wuxi National Hightech District recently launched a three-year action plan to pursue high-quality industry development, high-efficiency scientific and technological innovation, opening-up and integration of industry and city.

"In the face of the complex and challenging macroeconomic environment, WND launched an action plan. WND hopes to become a leader in high-quality development through reform and innovation, and to contribute to Wuxi's development," said Wang Jinjian, vice-mayor of Wuxi, also director of the district.

Wuxi National High-tech District, also known as WND, was approved by the State Council in 1992. After more than two decades of development, WND has become vital for Wuxi's economic growth, scientific innovation and industry transformation. It is also a window for the city's opening-up.

In recent years, WND has been actively promoting high-quality industry development to boost the city's economic growth. Intelligent manufacturing is among the district's development goals. Recently, 20 enterprises at WND have been assessed as intelligent workshops by Wuxi.

"Developing intelligent manufacturing can help economic transformation, drive traditional enterprises to realize automation of key processes, mechanize key positions and optimize the production supply chain," an official from WND's management committee said.

The popularization and application of intelligent manufacturing products is promoting the development of the service industry. At the country's first Internet of Things Future Park, at WND, Alibaba's smart logistics network Cainiao Network finishes the sorting work in the automated warehouse with robots.

"A total of 700 robots replaced manual sorting, making it faster and more accurate," said a staff member from Cainiao Network.

In May 2018, domestic appliance giant Haier Group announced it would establish an IoT Eco-Network Base at WND, with a total investment of 5 billion yuan ($746 million). With the upgrade and transformation of the garment industry as the breakthrough point, the group will build high-end industrial internet, an intelligent manufacturing agglomeration area, intelligent life, innovation and entrepreneurship demonstration area.

So far, WND has gathered more than 1,000 IoT enterprises, with output value exceeding 140 billion yuan and more than 50,000 employees. In the first half of 2018, 84 new IoT enterprises registered at WND. The operating income of the IoT industry increased by 18.7 percent year-on-year.

Officials said it was important to expand the superior industries while seeking high-quality development. So far, WND is actively building a new energy battery industry cluster, which has gathered a number of well-known Japanese and Korean power battery manufacturers, such as Panasonic Energy, GS Yuasa, Samsung SDI, a subsidiary of South Korea's Samsung Group.

Since 2018, LG Chemical Cathode Material Project and a number of other automotive power battery materials projects have been introduced into the district. This helps form a relatively complete industrial chain, including cathode materials, power battery cores and battery components, an official said.

In the integrated circuit industry, WND has also seen significant progress with a number of major projects introduced into the district since 2017. They include the global semiconductor manufacturer SK hynix plant project with an investment of $8.6 billion, Huahong semiconductor integrated circuit research and development and manufacturing base project with a total investment of $10 billion. This high-tech district will form an integrated circuit industry chain, an official said.

Official added that the district will continue to attract foreign investment and encourage them to go further into intelligent manufacturing and strategic emerging industries.

In 2018, the world-famous high-end electronic component supplier Japan Murata Manufacturing Co launched a $1.1 billion project to build two new bases to produce electronic components and new energy lithium battery. Once both projects have gone into production, the output value will exceed 10 billion yuan.

Murata set up its Wuxi subsidiary in 1994, and its annual output reaches 6.2 billion yuan.

yuanshenggao@chinadaily.com.cn