Dynamic: The Lishui Economic and Technological Development Zone is the main platform for industrial development in the thriving city. [Photo/WeChat account: wxlishui]

The Lishui Economic and Technological Development Zone, or Lishui ETDZ – located in East China's Zhejiang province – has been ranked among the top 20 national-level ETDZs.

That's in terms of the number of provincial and above-level research and development institutions, according to a report recently released by the Ministry of Commerce.

The report evaluated the comprehensive development levels of national-level ETDZs in 2022.

The Lishui ETDZ is seen as being the main platform for local industrial development, serves as a magnet for scientific and technological talent and is perceived as the pioneer area for deepening reforms in Lishui city.

In 2022, the zone achieved impressive growth of various key indicators. The value of industrial output value of its businesses above a designated size – those with revenue of at least 20 million yuan ($2.77 million) annually – grew by 16.9 percent.

Last year R&D expenditure of enterprises above a designated size hiked by 25.1 percent and total investment in high-tech industries soared by 132.2 percent. To top it off, the ratio of R&D expenditure to industrial output spending has been over 5 percent for several years.

It's seen as being a by-product of Lishui ETDZ's strategy of innovation-driven development that it adopted with its founding in 1993. That's more paid off in the ensuing years and in 2014 it became a national-level zone.