China’s textile and apparel industrial parks:Focusing on intelligence to explore the future and enhance the cooperation

By Zhao Zihan

On Nov. 29th 2018， the First National Textile and Apparel Industrial Park Development Forum was successfully held in Shuyang， Jiangsu Province， welcoming more than 300 participants from China National Textile and Apparel Council， the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology， textile industry associations at all levels， local governments， industrial clusters， textile and apparel industrial parks， industry colleges and universities， and well-known entrepreneurs.

In order to fully implement the general policy for economic work - “high-quality development” put forward by the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China， combine the new positioning of the textile industry in the new era， grasp the new trend， and adhere to the development concept of “innovation， coordination， sustainability， openness， sharing”， it is required to promote the transformation and upgrading of textile and apparel industrial parks and innovation of institutional mechanisms， accelerate the formation of new agglomeration effects， growth momentum and innovation vitality， and give full play to the demonstration and leading role of the park in the high-quality development of the industry. Themed on “intelligence endows capability， brands builds soul”， the forum was sponsored by China National Textile and Apparel Council （CNTAC）， co-organized by CNTAC Industrial Park Work Office， China Textile and Apparel Industrial Park Development Union， CNTAC Media Center， Shuyang Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee， and China Knitting Industry Association - Covered Yarn Branch.

Industrial park is an important platform for enterprise cluster and industrial development

Since the very beginning of 2018， despite the increasing uncertainties of economic development and greater pressures， textile industry has still enjoyed a stable performance in general thanks to the continuous supplyside reform， improved supply-demand relations， and innovated product circulation modes. The textile and apparel industry has been playing a critical role in stabilizing growth， employment， foreign trade， investment， and expectations.

Xia Lingmin， Vice President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council， stated that textile and garment industrial park， as an important platform for enterprise cluster and industrial development， has its own unique advantages in the aspects of production factor agglomeration， intensive resource sharing， ecological environmental protection， productioncity integration development， and mechanism innovation. More and more regions are taking the construction of the park as a breakthrough， to continuously optimize the software and hardware environment of the park， so as to improve the service level of the park， guide and attract enterprises to concentrate on the park， thus becoming an important force to lead innovation and development of the industry and replace old growth drivers with new ones.

There are still many difficulties and problems， including the develop-ment of factors driven by innovation is relatively lagging behind； the level of specialization and quality of public service supply is urgently needed to be improved； and the task of promoting sustainable development and ecological environmental protection is still arduous. “This year， we organized key parks， enterprises and related service organizations to establish China Textile and Apparel Industrial Park Development Union which will better serve the development of the park and promote the formation of a new cluster effect and growth momentum. Today， the forum is also a platform for the vast number of parks and enterprises to explore the future， share wisdom and enhance cooperation. We hope that our textile and garment industry parks will continue to play an important role in leading the optimization of industrial structure adjustment， and accelerate the realization of the park development mode as well as the transformation and upgrading of service mode. It will vigorously promote the intelligence， branding and sustainable development of the parks， strengthen the fundamental role of technological innovation and talent team building in the innovation and development of the parks， and create new textile and garment industrial parks in the new era to better drive the coordinated development of the regional economy， which will make greater contributions to the high-quality development of the industry and the construction of a textile power.”

Innovation and integrated development of textile and apparel industrial park

Industrial park is an important platform for enterprise cluster and industrial development. In the process of regional textile and garment industry development， all localities have taken the planning and construction of the park as an important measure to guide and attract enterprises to concentrate on the park. According to incomplete statistics， there are more than 1，000 textile and apparel industrial parks in the country， accounting for more than 20% of the total industry. The development， management and operation of the parks aims to continuously optimize the software and hardware environment of the park， improve the service level of the park， making the park an important carrier for the development and upgrading of the regional textile industry， and an important stabilizer and engine for regional economic development， and driving the regional economy as well as urban transformation and development.

The construction and development of the park is a process of continuous innovation and leading development. For example， Shuyang Economic and Technological Development Zone always insists on promoting reform and innovation to all reachable areas， and has played an irreplaceable role in promoting institutional reform， improving the investment environment， guiding industrial agglomeration， intensive sharing of factors， and developing an open economy. effect. It vigorously promotes the development of intelligence， actively guides enterprises to strengthen cooperation with universities and research institutes. Introducing and fostering entrepreneurial and innovative talents as well as entrepreneurs is taken as the top priority. Shuyang Economic and Technological Development Zone is the first “Intelligent Industrial Park” in the knitting industry in China .

The construction and development of the park has played an important role in promoting industrial transfer and achieving accurate poverty alleviation in the industry. In the process of industrial development in the central and western regions， through the construction of industrial parks， the disadvantages of the local industrial base and weak supporting conditions have been effectively overcome. The park has also become an important platform for industrial cooperation between the eastern， central and western regions and enterprises. For example， in the process of developing the textile and garment industry in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region， the infrastructure conditions for the development of industrial parks and other industries have basically been established， and the agglomeration effect has become more apparent. More than 70% of the textile and garment output value of the autonomous region comes from industrial parks. In many areas， through “industrial parks + satellite factories”， etc.， jobs were sent to the doorstep， driving more poor people to get rid of poverty and become better off.

The construction and development of the parks is attaching greater importance to specialization and professionalization， and fostering differentiated competitive advantages. With the economic and social development entering a new stage， the investment attraction of the park has also seen changes from the previous dependence on preferential policies without taking the selection of industries into account to paying attention to the layout of industrial planning. According to the regional factor resources and environment as well as the overall development plan， investment matching and industrial cultivation are selectively carried out，creating differentiated advantages with highlighted characteristics. It not only highlights the characteristic industrial planning and layout， but also focuses on creating characteristic industrial operations， services， policies， and marketing. A group of innovative and distinctive parks stand out and play a positive role in promoting the transformation and upgrading of the industry. In recent years， a total of 13 textile professional parks have been awarded the title of National New Industrialization Industrial Demonstration Base by Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the Peoples Republic of China. 30 parks and platforms have been selected into the Textile and Apparel Creative Design Pilot Park （platform） of the MIIT， and more than 40 industrial parks in the central and western regions have become the industrial transfer pilot parks of CNTAC.

Li Jincai， Deputy Secretary General of CNTAC， stressed that in the new historical direction， the vast textile and apparel industrial parks and enterprises need to innovate development concepts and foster core advantages to achieve more sustainable and more valuable development. Facing the future， the competition of innovation ability and comprehensive manufacturing environment is the fundamental factor； new technological revolutions such as artificial intelligence will have a huge impact on the global industrial structure； globalization and wider interconnection are still important long-term trends. Looking to the future， and most importantly， we have entered a new era of comprehensively promoting high quality development.

According to Li Jincai， in the future， we must focus on realizing the two major changes in the development of the industrial parks： First， the parks will be transformed from a carrier and platform that provides enterprise clusters to an industrial ecosystem second， the park services will be upgraded from “nanny-style”services to “instructional ” and “ integrative” ones. Meanwhile， it is required to promote the wisdom， brand， openness and integration of the parks

Why Shuyang？

In recent years， in accordance with the idea “to industrialize the park， to characterize the industry”， Shuyang has fully promoted the transformation and upgrading of local textile industry from following the development to leading the development. Relying on the three major sectors of covered yarn， home textile and smart knitting， Shuyang is gradually forming a relatively complete industrial chain covering “machinery – spinning – texturing – weaving – dyeing and printing –garments”， striving to build an industry cluster of 100 billion yuan.

Shuyang Economic and Technological Development Zone was established from August 2001. It was approved by the provincial government as a provincial economic development zone in April 2006. In November 2013， it was approved by the State Council to be upgraded to a national development zone， becoming the only one national-level development zone in a county-level city in the five cities of northern Jiangsu. It enjoys complete supporting facilities such as water， electricity， gas， and heat， and obvious advantages of various development factors. Textile & apparel， electronic information， equipment manufacturing and other industries have begun to take shape. New textile materials， new energy and equipment manufacturing have been approved as a provincial-level industrial park. Among them， the textile industry here has developed rapidly， witnessing the increasing companies numbers， the growing of the industry， the building of brands， and its leading role in development， developing route with Shuyang characteristics. At present， there are 188 above-designated textile enterprises. In 2017， the countys textile industry realized a sales income of 8.1 billion yuan， and it will be up to 14 billion yuan this year. The total output value will reach 30 billion yuan in 2020， and is projected to reach 80 - 100 billion yuan by 2025.

From January to October this year， the countys textile and garment industry achieved industrial sales revenue of 9.216 billion yuan， an increase of 42.81% year on year. Aiming at the development orientation of“Future Knitting Depends on Intelligence， Intelligent Knitting Focus on Shuyang”， Shuyang has built the countrys first intelligent knitting industrial park to actively built a carrier platform for intelligent manufacturing and transformation of the textile industry， striving to form such an industrial pattern as “Zhuji in the south， Liaoyuan in the north， and Shuyang in the middle.”

A series of preferential polices have been launched to attract investment， including the incentives to attract foreign investment that for foreign-invested industrial enterprises， if the annual registration or capital increase is 1 million USD （inclusive） - 5 million USD， 5 million USD（inclusive） - 10 million USD， or 10 million USD （inclusive） or more， rewards will be given according to 5‰， 8‰， 10‰ respectively of the actual amount of foreign capital received.