Yiwu authorities received the Outstanding Prize for the government's contribution to scientific and technological advancement in 2020 at a conference held by the Zhejiang provincial government in the provincial capital of Hangzhou on June 15.
Over the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period, a massive change took place in Yiwu's scientific innovation capabilities, driving the county-level city up the rankings in an innovation index from 61st to 27th in the province.
During this period, Yiwu managed to attract or establish a number of national-level tech enterprise incubators, national registered maker spaces, provincial-level new-pattern R&D institutes, provincial-level innovative companies, provincial-level key laboratories, and provincial-level agricultural tech zones, all of which were non-existent in Yiwu before 2016. The number of Yiwu-based national high-tech companies surged from 33 to 226, while the number of provincial tech-based small and medium sized companies in the city jumped from 295 to 1,057.
In 2020, Yiwu introduced 62 major high-tech investment projects, including an Aiko solar cell plant and a Risen high-performing battery plant, and the renowned Fudan University established the Yiwu Research Institute in downtown Yiwu in August 2020. In addition, construction on the Belt and Road International Medical School affiliated with Zhejiang University was launched in Yiwu in December 2020.
Looking ahead, Yiwu authorities have set a goal to house at least 400 national high-tech companies and 2,000 provincial tech-based SMEs by 2025. The proportion of R&D expenses over GDP is expected to reach 2.5 percent in Yiwu by that time.
