Innovation is the primary driving force for development and the decisive factor for enhancing the comprehensive national strength and national core competitiveness. In recent years, Linhai City has unswervingly played the “first hand chess” of scientific and technological innovation, continued to make efforts to improve service efficiency and optimize the business environment, continued to tackle tough problems in industrial innovation and project breakthroughs, and continued to deepen scientific and technological innovation and improve the development level, injecting strong scientific and technological forces into the realization of “the rise of ancient cities and breakthroughs and leaps”. Based on reality, this paper summarizes and analyzes the practical exploration and bottlenecks of Linhai in scientific and technological innovation, and puts forward countermeasures and suggestions to provide ideas for Linhai City’s in-depth implementation of the “science and technology first” strategy.
- Main practices and results
(1) Take research and development as the starting point to stimulate the endogenous power of innovation. First, the total amount of research and development continues to increase. Guided by expanding the basic R&D market, we will continue to carry out the “R&D zero” action of enterprises on the plan to help enterprises do a good job in the top-level design of R&D. In 2020, the R&D expenditure of the whole society reached 2.266 billion yuan, ranking first in Taizhou for ten consecutive years, and R&D accounted for 3.07% of GDP, an increase of 0.45 percentage points, ranking in the forefront of the province and the first in Taizhou, and Linhai is the only area in Taizhou City higher than 3%. At present, there are 535 enterprises carrying out R&D activities in the city, a year-on-year increase of 131.6%, accounting for 98.15% of the industrial enterprises on the scale, ranking first in the province and first in Taizhou. Second, emerging industries continue to develop. The added value of high-tech industries has ranked first in Taizhou for five consecutive years, and the proportion of industrial added value above the standard has remained above 65% for three consecutive years.
(2) Guided by the cultivation of subjects, consolidate the foundation of enterprise innovation. The first is to promote the “double multiplication” of science and technology enterprises. Improve the mechanism of scientific and tax linkage to cultivate enterprises, and continuously enrich the cultivation pool of high-tech enterprises. From 2017 to 2021, the number of national high-tech enterprises increased from 85 to 207, and the number of provincial science and technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises increased from 322 to 773, ranking first in Taizhou. The second is to promote the “full coverage” of R&D institutions. Establish a cascade cultivation mechanism, innovate and issue the “Linhai Municipal Enterprise Research and Development Center Identification Management Measures”, and implement key assistance to qualified R&D institutions. At present, there are 5 overseas R&D institutions and 83 provincial-level R&D institutions in the city, including 3 provincial-level key laboratories, 2 key enterprise research institutes, 20 enterprise research institutes, and 58 enterprise R&D centers, and the number of various R&D institutions ranks first in Taizhou. The third is to promote the “tough battle” of core technologies. In the past five years, it has been listed in 12 provincial key R&D projects and 16 provincial science and technology awards, ranking first in Taizhou.
(3) Relying on platform construction, fully promote collaborative innovation. The first is to build the Linhai Science and Technology Innovation Park of the Zhangjiang Research Institute of Fudan University. It adopts the “three bases” operation mode of “Shanghai-Linhai-Melbourne” linkage to build an entrepreneurial ecological chain of “innovation and research and development-achievement incubation-industrialization”. At present, the Science and Technology Innovation Park has been recognized by the National Natural Science Foundation of China Outstanding Youth Science Fund Project (Overseas) and the provincial public innovation space, and has been included in the list of provincial overseas innovation incubation centers. The second is to build Shanghai’s “science and technology enclave”. Set up Linhai International Science and Technology Innovation Center (Shanghai) in the central area of the core plate of Shanghai’s Hongqiao Business District, focusing on opening up the channel for talent project incubation and local industrialization linkage development in large cities. The third is to build an industrial innovation service complex. An innovative service complex has been built around the layout of leading industries with Linhai characteristics, and an innovative service complex has been built in four industries: medical treatment, colored lights, glasses and leisure goods. Among them, the modern pharmaceutical and chemical industry innovation service complex has been included in the list of provincial establishments, and 4 colleges and universities and 13 service institutions have been introduced. The fourth is to build a digital economy platform. Zhejiang Toumen Port Economic Development Zone was included in the first batch of chemical industry brain co-construction pilot parks in the province, and chemical API industry brain was selected as the first batch of industrial brain construction pilot projects in the province.
(4) Take factor agglomeration as a guarantee to create a first-class innovation ecology. First, strengthen the role of financial support. In 2021, the financial science and technology allocation at this level reached 330 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.43%, accounting for 15.24% of the current fiscal expenditure, ranking among the top 5 in the province for ten consecutive years. The second is to strengthen the external introduction and internal education of talent. As of 2021, the total number of talents in the city has reached 176,000, with 45 key contact experts at the Chinese and provincial levels, 222 innovative and entrepreneurial talents introduced through the “500 Elite Program”, 26 provincial “overseas engineers”, 69 new leading talents at or above the provincial level since 2016, 2 innovation and entrepreneurship teams at or above the provincial level, and the number of various talents in the forefront of Taizhou. The third is to continuously deepen scientific and technological cooperation. With the goal of “full coverage” of school-enterprise cooperation between enterprises on the plan, it has established scientific and technological cooperation with 27 universities and institutes such as Fudan University, Southeast University, Zhejiang University of Technology, and China Jiliang University, and promoted the establishment of cooperative relations between more than 400 enterprises and colleges and universities.
Second, there are problems
(1) The scale of science and technology enterprises is relatively small, and their innovation capabilities need to be improved. In terms of quantity, according to the “2020 Zhejiang Province County (City, District) Statistical Monitoring and Evaluation Report on Scientific and Technological Progress”, Linhai has 157 high-tech enterprises and 571 technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises. Compared with other industrial cities, Yueqing, Cixi and Wenling have 596, 475 and 277 high-tech enterprises respectively, and 1928, 1882 and 1311 technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises, with a large gap. From the perspective of scale, only 50.32% of the city’s high-tech enterprises have an output value of more than 100 million yuan, and only 12.10% of them have an output value of more than 500 million yuan, and the volume of innovative enterprises is relatively small. From the perspective of innovation ability, Linhai City’s technological innovation index and science and technology output index in 2020 ranked only 7th in Taizhou, ranking 68th and 56th in the province respectively, ranking relatively backward. In addition, there is currently only one innovative leading enterprise in the city, and with the outward layout of the R&D sector of various leading enterprises, the overall innovation and development momentum of the city is gradually insufficient.
(2) The concentration of innovation resources is low, and it is difficult to attract high-end projects. From the perspective of innovation resource layout, there are currently few science and technology innovation functional areas where innovation resources are concentrated in the city, and innovation resources are scattered in spatial layout, mainly distributed in Dayang Street, the surrounding areas of the Lingjiang River Basin and the industrial agglomeration area of Toumen Port, and lack of collaborative cooperation mechanism. From the perspective of innovation resource energy level, because of the limitation of physical space, functions and policy support, the carrying capacity of the innovation platform projects built in the city is not strong enough, the level of settled enterprises is low, it is difficult to attract top talents or high-quality entrepreneurial projects led by teams, and each platform lacks unified layout planning, and the introduced projects are not related enough with the advantageous industries in Linhai City, and it is difficult to form the upstream and downstream supporting relationships of the industrial chain.
(3) The industrial industry is in urgent need of transformation, and the development of emerging industries is relatively slow. First, the development level of traditional industries is low. Most of the traditional industries in Linhai are in an extensive development mode, and the accumulation of technology is insufficient. For example, the color lantern industry products generally have the problems of homogenization, low added value and low technology content, in 2020, the output value rate of new products in the color lantern industry is only 7.3%, 39.6 percentage points lower than the city’s average, and the proportion of R&D expenses of industrial enterprises to operating income is only 1.12%, 1.68 percentage points lower than the city’s average, and about 73% of the enterprise R&D and design teams have less than 5 people. Second, the volume of emerging industries still needs to be expanded. The development of strategic emerging industries such as digital economy, high-end equipment, new energy, and new materials is relatively weak. During the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan” period, the proportion of strategic emerging industries in the designated industry decreased from 35.1% to 32.2%, the proportion in 2020 was 0.8 percentage points lower than the provincial average, and the added value of the core industries of the manufacturing digital economy was 755 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.6%, and the growth rate was 12.2 percentage points lower than the provincial average.
(4) The intensity of talent attraction is insufficient, and the supporting service mechanism is incomplete. First, the attraction of talents is not high enough. With the development of the integration of the Yangtze River Delta, the “siphon effect” of talents in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou and other big cities has become more and more obvious, compared with the weak comprehensive competitiveness of Linhai, coupled with factors such as high housing prices and insufficient abundant social resources such as education, health and culture, it is difficult to attract talents. Second, the distribution of high-end talents is uneven. High-level talents are mainly concentrated in the pharmaceutical and chemical industry, and concentrated in a small number of head enterprises represented by Huahai, and high-end talents in automotive machinery, fashion and leisure industries are scarce. For example, there are 19 national-level key contact experts in the city, 16 Huahai, 26 provincial-level key contact experts, 23 Huahai, and the only two provincial-level leading innovation and entrepreneurship teams are also Huahai R&D teams. Third, the talent matching mechanism is not perfect. The lack of inclination of talent project funds, land and other elements, complex financial cashing procedures and long cycles, resulting in insufficient timely and effective process of talent policy fund cashing, and “slow landing” and “difficult landing” of talent projects.
3. Countermeasures and suggestions
(1) Cultivate science and technology enterprise clusters in gradients. The first is to promote the “incremental quality improvement” of science and technology enterprises. Implement a new round of “double growth” plan, improve the echelon cultivation and full-chain cultivation mechanism, build an echelon of “science and technology small and medium-sized enterprises, high-tech enterprises, and innovative leading enterprises”, and form an innovative leading enterprise group with international competitiveness. Give play to the leading and supporting role of leading enterprises, establish an innovative leading enterprise cultivation bank composed of high-quality enterprises such as Huahai and Yongqiang, give key support in the research and development of core key technologies, and promote the fission of backbone enterprises. Focus on hidden champions in industry segments, create “specialized, specialized and new” small and medium-sized enterprise clusters, focus on the cultivation of “gazelle” enterprises, and support the listing of “unicorn” enterprises on the main board and the science and technology innovation board. The second is to promote the “expansion and efficiency improvement” of R&D institutions. Support leading enterprises to take the lead in forming systematic and task-oriented innovation consortiums, encourage leading enterprises in the industry to build new common technology platforms, guide innovative enterprises to set up provincial-level R&D centers, and support small and medium-sized enterprises to form R&D alliances. Support enterprises to take “innovation platform + industrial brain + future factory” as the core innovation scenario to promote the construction of intelligent manufacturing units, intelligent production lines, intelligent workshops, intelligent factories, and future factories.
(2) In-depth strengthening of the top-level design of the platform. The first is to build a Lingjiang science and technology innovation corridor. Actively integrate into the construction of the Taizhou Bay Science and Technology Innovation Corridor, integrate and upgrade the existing co-creation space, innovation and entrepreneurship incubators and science and technology innovation platforms scattered in various enterprises, and create an overall development pattern of “one corridor link, two cores together, three districts sharing, and seven platform interaction”. The second is to build provincial-level high-tech parks. Integrate about 10.30 square kilometers of land in towns (streets) such as Dayang, Datian, Jiangnan and Xianqiao, plan and lay out high-end pharmaceutical high-tech industrial parks in Linhai around the spatial layout of “one core and two zones”, promote the upgrading of the three leading industries of modern medicine, intelligent equipment and new materials to the high-end level, and support the development of science and technology service industries, and strive to create provincial high-tech parks. The third is to build Peixian Lake Science and Technology City. Guided by the breakthrough development of innovation-empowered cities, a science and technology city will be built in the Peixian Lake block to create a science and technology island chain integrating science and technology incubation, talent apartments, and comprehensive supporting facilities. With the help of the construction of the “three major science and technology innovation highlands” of the province, the science and technology city will cultivate strategic emerging industries, gather advantageous innovation resources, vigorously promote the attraction of high-end projects and high-quality science and technology innovation enterprises, and promote the science and technology city to become an industrial highland for the future expansion and upgrading of the central urban area. The fourth is to build Fudan Zhangjiang Linhai new energy and new materials innovation research and development and pilot base. Give full play to the advantageous resources of Fudan University, recruit professional R&D teams, aim at pharmaceutical and chemical industry, fossil energy, new lithium batteries, chemical energy storage and other directions, and promote the pilot test and industrialization of scientific and technological achievements in Linhai City. Fifth, build a public service platform for intellectual property rights. With accelerating the China Linhai (Fashion and Leisure) Intellectual Property Rights Rapid Protection Center as the core, optimize the construction of the comprehensive intellectual property service park, gather excellent intellectual property service resources, and strive to create a provincial-level demonstration zone for the development of intellectual property service industry agglomeration.
(3) Build a diversified modern industrial system. The first is to build a modern industrial chain. Focus on the three hundred billion industries to carry out extended chain supplementation chain and excellent chain, strengthen the collaborative innovation of the industrial chain, focus on promoting the coordinated development of the medical industry “one town and two districts”, the new energy power transformation of the automobile industry, the regional brand construction of the fashion and leisure industry, etc., and accelerate the research and development of four emerging industries of new materials, new energy environmental protection, high-end equipment manufacturing, and optoelectronic industry. The second is to build a high-quality industrial platform. Carry out spatial planning focusing on industrial bases such as Taizhou (Red Foot Rock) New Material Industrial Park, International Leisure Industry Capital, and East Zhejiang Digital Economy Industrial Park, and accelerate the construction of a 100-billion-level and world-class industrial base led by the New Material Industrial Park. Deepen the construction of the digital industry platform, update and release the chemical API industry brain version 2.0, strive to build a high-quality construction and application model of the industrial brain of the province, build an enterprise-level industrial Internet platform system at a high level, and complete the construction and use of the Internet platform for the fashion and leisure (lantern) industry in Linhai. The third is to give play to the role of industrial funds. Set up an industrial fund with a total scale of 10 billion yuan, invest in three types of industrial projects: strategy, technology and efficiency in accordance with the principle of “focusing on strategic orientation, highlighting policy guidance, adhering to market operation and reasonably preventing risks”, and promote the gathering of high-quality projects, capital, technology and talents at home and abroad to Linhai.
(4) Build a full-chain talent introduction mechanism. First, accurately attract talents. Deepen the mechanism of “all-staff talent attraction project”, and municipal leaders take the lead in contacting and docking talent projects, and strive to achieve zero breakthroughs in the “Kunpeng Plan”. The second is to make good use of the talent platform. Give full play to the talent attraction effect of Linhai International Science and Technology Innovation Center (Shanghai) to promote the agglomeration, utilization and transformation of high-end innovation elements; Make good use of the Linhai High-level Talent Innovation and Entrepreneurship Park to further attract high-quality talent projects to settle in the park. The third is to broaden the channels for attracting talent. Take the initiative to undertake the spillover effect of talent resources in the Yangtze River Delta region, and establish a number of landmark talent projects such as the Linhai-Shanghai Minhang District Talent Integration Cooperation Demonstration Zone; Actively give full play to the strength of the “five teams” of talent commissioners, expert “talent introduction ambassadors”, chief talent officers of enterprises, foreign villagers, and intermediary agencies, and explore flexible talent introduction methods such as “migratory bird style”, “guest consultant” and “remote consultation”. The fourth is to improve the talent ecology. Comprehensively optimize the talent policy environment, business environment, living environment and social environment, accelerate the establishment of talent investment funds, increase the cultivation of talent service-oriented sub-branches, fully give full play to the role of government industrial funds and state-owned enterprise debt support and leverage, and play a good combination of “attracting talents with capital”.
(Source: Linhai Science and Technology Bureau)