Scientific and technological (S&T) innovation provides solid support for social and economic development in the city of Ruzhou, Central China’s Henan province. By implementing an innovation-driven development strategy, the municipality’s services on S&T innovation keeps growing, according to the Ruzhou science and technology bureau.

Ruzhou has focused on constructing the city’s S&T innovation system and has introduced an evaluation system for S&T performance.

The city organized the first S&T progress evaluation to measure 32 qualified projects, involving over 10 professional fields such as new materials, biomedicine, and Ru porcelain research and development. Twenty projects received awards in the 2013 S&T conference based on expert judges.

Thanks to its S&T innovation service, two Ruzhou-based enterprises were selected as national high-tech enterprises in 2013, and 11 local enterprises were named Henan provincial innovation pilot enterprises. To date, the city has 23 high-tech businesses and 27 engineering technological research centers at provincial and municipal levels. A dozen Ruzhou enterprises are cooperating with universities and colleges, from which they can receive competitive S&T support.

In addition, new S&T talent is being introduced to inject new life into the city’s development. A batch of 48 experts with different professional backgrounds in Henan province were appointed as S&T commissioners on Oct 12, 2013, during the first S&T commissioners appointment conference.

In 2013, the high-tech industry created output value of 7.3 billion yuan ($1.19 billion) and added value of 2.2 billion yuan.