Traditional industrial heartland aims to make economy more investor friendly

Liaoning, an industrial province in Northeast China, will introduce more measures to improve its overall business environment and develop its high-tech sector to make itself more appealing to both global and domestic investors.

China's higher-level opening-up has offered many opportunities, with stimulus programs such as the pilot free trade zone program, the revival plan for Northeast China and its ongoing industrial and consumption upgrading, said Zhang Weidong, deputy director-general of the Liaoning Department of Commerce.

The provincial government has given more administrative power to platforms such as the China (Liaoning) Pilot Free Trade Zone, Shenfu New Area, Sino-German (Shenyang) High-end Equipment Manufacturing Industrial Park and Jinpu New Area in Dalian to improve their service ability.

He said that the country's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) and long-term objectives through 2035 indicate that new breakthroughs will be made in the revitalization of the province.

In the past five years, Liaoning's GDP grew at an average annual rate of 3.2 percent. Urban and rural personal incomes also increased 5.3 percent and 7.7 percent, respectively.

According to the province's work plan for the period, Liaoning will continue to focus its economic development on the real economy, accelerate industrial revitalization and reinforce the high-quality growth of manufacturing. It will also upgrade its industrial structure through the transformation and upgrading of established brands, in-depth development of original brands and the cultivation and expansion of new brands.

Since its establishment in 2018, Shenfu New Area, a provincial-level economic zone in the convergence areas of Shenyang and Fushun, has been seen as one of Liaoning's characteristics and simply the result of institutional innovations. Several companies have benefited from its reform and development, said Chang Xiuze, a professor of regional development at the Institute of Macroeconomics under the National Development and Reform Commission.

Supported by investment from both domestic and foreign companies, universities and research institutes' innovation projects, as well as supportive policy from local governments, the number of high-tech companies in Shenfu New Area has soared from 29 in 2018 to 95 in 2020.

Apart from Siemens AG's move to build a digital center in Shenfu New Area to support the "Digital Liaoning" growth program in April this year, Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co established its first artificial intelligence innovation base in Shenfu New Area in late June.

The new Huawei (Liaoning) Artificial Intelligence Innovation Center will integrate Huawei and its ecosystem partner resources to build a digital industry ecosystem in the fields of cloud industrial internet computing, big data and artificial intelligence to boost the growth of digital economy in Liaoning, said the Shenzhen, Guangdong province-based company.

Dong Feng, director of the administrative committee of Shenfu New Area, said the area will focus on developing technologies supported by the country and in support of Liaoning's industries. More resources will be deployed in the new generation of information technologies led by AI, modern services and other key sectors in the coming years.

Under the government plan, Shenfu New Area will build six leading industrial clusters－digital economy, information technology applications and equipment, intelligent manufacturing, life and health, new materials and hydrogen energy, and modern service industries－to further enrich Liaoning's economic growth pattern.

"Liaoning province has unique advantages in industrial accumulation, talent reserves and software resources. As a pioneer in the development of digital economy and intelligent manufacturing in the province, Shenfu New Area keeps boosting innovation and enhancing its competitiveness through open cooperation with both foreign and domestic companies," said Zhu Xiaoxun, executive vice-president of Siemens China.

"With its expertise and innovative experience in fields such as the industrial internet, Siemens will work with Shenfu New Area to jointly build a regional benchmark of digital transformation, thereby enabling growth of the Digital Liaoning program, introduced by the provincial government in 2020," Zhu said.

Giving full play to the industrial characteristics and future development direction of its cities, Liaoning will plan and package a series of investment projects in a targeted way to further tap the cooperation potential in resources, technologies, capital and management across the world, said Zang Baoling, director of the planning and platform division at the Liaoning Department of Science and Technology.

Taking scientific and technological innovation as a major driving force for economic and social development, Liaoning is also stepping up its efforts to introduce leading professionals and high-level innovation teams, and improve the transfer and application of scientific and technological achievements, Zang said.

"We will give full play to the leverage of government funds for science and technology and guide businesses to increase investment in innovation within the province," he said.

According to the province's outline for the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Liaoning will continue to focus its economic development on the real economy, accelerate industrial revitalization and promote high-quality development of manufacturing. It will also upgrade its industrial structure through the transformation and upgrading of established brands, in-depth development of original brands and the cultivation and expansion of new brands.