A Burgeoning Highland for Innovation

By / Wang Weiyi Photo by / Li Yiwen

Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui province, has emerged as a burgeoning innovation highland attractive to bright and diverse mindsand conducive to transformation of research achievements into marketable products.

Strategically positioned in 2004 as China'sfirst Scientific and Technological Innovation Pilot City, Hefei has kept up a steady pace ever since. It's thus no coincidence that the city was designated as a National Self-Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone and a Comprehensive National Science Center.

Last year, the city's invention patent authorizations reached 5,597 out of 32,831 applications, ranking 7th and 5th respectively among Chinese large cities. The technical contract amount was up to 19.1 billion yuan ($2.7 billion). Nature Index 2018 Science Cities, a supplement of the prestigious British scientific journal Nature, rated Hefei the 27th worldwide by research output.

Judging by industries, Hefei leads the country in quantum communication, energy, environmental monitoring, life sciences and artificial intelligence. For instance, the Jing-Hu (Beijing-Shanghai) Trunk Line, the first of its kind in the world for securing quantum telecommunications, was opened in Sept 2017.Behind such achievements is Hefei-based University of Science and Technology of China.

The “Artificial Sun”, the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) currently being worked on by Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, for the first time achieved a plasma central electron temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius in 2018. Eventually, it may generate limitless clean energy relying on the same fusion technology that fuels the Sun.

If the above-mentioned two scenarios are still too far away from daily life, many should be familiar with the interpretation devices and software developed by China's Siri-like tech maker,iFlyteck Co Ltd. The company, which is located at Speech Valley in Hefei National High-Tech Industry Development Zone, saw its next generation of speech translation technologies and system grab the topmost honor of the 2019 World Artificial Intelligence Conference - the Super AI Leader Award.

Hefei's innovation-friendly environment has attracted hordes of talents and entrepreneurs across the world, although the city is widely acknowledged to be less well-known internationally than first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.

Currently, Hefei is home to 124 members from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering,895 experts entitled to the special government allowances of the State Council, and 1,334 experts enjoying the special government allowances of Anhui province. Ten foreign experts who work in Hefei achieved Chinese Government Friendship Award,accounting for one third of people so honored in Anhui province.

Hefei ranked the third on the list of Amazing China - the Most Attractive Chinese Cities for Foreigners in both 2017 and 2018,following only Shanghai and Beijing. The annual survey by International Talent magazine is based on online and signature polls of foreigners, including Nobel Prize winners.

Statistics from immigration authorities show that more than 6,000 foreign talents work in Hefei, and the number is constantly on the rise.

What is the secret of the city's attraction to high-level talents?It could first be decoded as well-connected transport and an affordable cost of living, which is quite obvious with a glance at the city's metro lines and international flights as well as housing prices.

Another significant factor may be the prominent academic atmosphere in the city. There are now 60 universities and colleges, and more than 1,400 key laboratories, engineering(technical) research centers, enterprise technical centers and other research institutions in Hefei. The University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) cannot be surpassed when it comes to academic atmosphere, talent cultivation and innovation.

USTC is a national research university under direct leadership of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Not only is it a cradle of scientific elites, but it also produces plenty of world-leading achievements in areas such as quantum manipulation,nanotechnology, high-temperature superconductivity, speech processing, fire science and life science.

Most importantly, many of its graduates choose to live and work in Hefei after graduation. Sarmad Ali from Pakistan, for example,pursued his PhD degree at the university with a scholarship under the CAS-TWAS President's Fellowship Program. After finishing his studies, he obtained residence and work permits directly thanks to the Seven Exit-entry Measures of Anhui Province. Now, he is working at Hefei Guoxuan Hi-Tech as an expert in battery research and development of new energy vehicle.

Sarmad Ali from Pakistan

Seo Young Hwan from South Korea

Kariya Hiroyuki from Japan

In addition to exit-entry convenience for talents like Ali,Hefei has rolled out a set of supportive policies in housing,medical treatment, children's education, entrepreneurship and so on. There are 12 measures to support innovation and entrepreneurship of high-level talents, eight measures to further support talents to come to Hefei for innovation and entrepreneurship and 20 talent measures to serve Comprehensive National Science Center construction.

Yu Junying, one of the inventors of human induced pluripotent stem cells, founded Nuwall Cell Ltd in Hefei National High-Tech Industry Development Zone in 2016 after working at Cellular Dynamics International, a company established by James Thomson, Father of the Embryonic Stem Cell in the United States.

Yu was attracted to Hefei by the vast market for her talent in her home country. She knew too that the city is economically friendly, considering the financial strain of start-ups and the long-term large investments necessary in stem cell research. The local government exempted the company from renting for three years, and it will offer a half-priced rent discount for the next two years. Eligible employees in the company can apply for living subsidies as well as talent apartments.

Seo Young Hwan, an expert from South Korea who specializes in the R&D of household appliance spare parts, decided to work in the city because of its business environment and development potential. A rising center for household appliances, Hefei is home to many industrial giants such as Haier, Gree, TCL and Midea.As there are no boundaries in science, he wants to contribute his technological abilities to local causes； an attitude that won him the Friendship Award of Hefei National Economic &Technological Development Zone.

Kariya Hiroyuki from Japan, president of the Caihong E-glass Research Institute, shares the same vision. He speaks highly of the cooperation between Chinese enterprises, universities and research institutions. It is quite different from the situation for Japanese companies which often work on their own.

By the end of 2018, 46 overseas World Top 500 companies had put down roots in Hefei. A total of 140 foreign-funded enterprises settled in the city last year, with actually-used foreign direct investment reaching $3.23 billion yuan. The export-import value was $30.813 billion yuan, and the export value of hi-tech products accounted for 44.2 percent of the total.

With growing appeal, the innovation hub also hosted various events including RoboCup, the World Manufacturing Convention, the Scientific and Technological Innovation Achievement Exhibition of Anhui Province in Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Reform & Opening-up, and the Technological Innovation Achievement Trade Fair of Anhui Province.

Innovation has become one of Hefei's greatest advantages, as the city strives to become a sub-center of Yangtze River Delta，a world-class city cluster as well as an innovation hub with international in fluence.