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Jiaxing in East China's Zhejiang province recently published the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) for technological and innovative development.

The city aims to become a core innovation hub in the Yangtze River Delta region based on fundamental research, applied research, and transformation of technological achievements by 2025, according to the plan.

By the same year, the ratio of R&D expenditure to GDP in Jiaxing will improve to 3.75 percent and that of R&D expenditure by companies above designated size to operating revenue will increase from 1.6 percent to 2 percent in 2020.

The number of research personnel per 10,000 employed people will be 220 and each employed person is expected to generate 250,000 yuan ($39,000) per year.

"One corridor and one core area" will be the focus of Jiaxing's technological and innovative development over the next five years.

One corridor refers to the YRD G60 Science and Innovation Corridor, which started in Songjiang district, Shanghai and includes nine YRD cities. It explores the integrated development of scientific research and innovation.

One core area includes the downtown area in Jiaxing, Jiaxing Science City, Xiuzhou National High-tech Zone, and High-speed Rail New City. The area will cooperate with universities, research institutes, as well as maker spaces to develop into a core area for scientific research and innovation.

Over the past five years, Jiaxing has attached greater importance to scientific innovation. The ratio of R&D expenditure to GDP in the city increased from 2.73 percent in 2015 to 3.31 percent in 2020.

By the end of 2020, Jiaxing was home to 2,416 high-tech companies, as well as 6,064 provincial-level small and medium-sized technology companies, 4.87 and 3.74 times higher than the figures in 2015.