High-tech, internet-based industries accelerate new growth

China's Jiangxi province has embraced a new stage of economic development thanks to its rejuvenating industrial and structural upgrade and the introduction of innovative technology.

The city of Xinyu, located in central Jiangxi, exemplifies the progress achieved amid this transformation.

Enterprises above the designated scale - a stipulated level for inclusion in government metrics - in the city saw their sales revenue increase 19.4 percent year-on-year.

Jiangxi Yibo Electronic Technology is a high-tech company producing toner cartridges. Focusing on the overseas market, its direct competitors are HP, Canon and other international giants.

In some countries printers are free but the toner cartridges are sold at high prices, which become the major income of their producers.

Some of the large companies sell both the printers and the accessories. Therefore, intelligent patents become a powerful tool for them to challenge their competitors.

"At first, we were trapped by some obstacles. We took measures to cut costs and improve our product quality, hoping to squeeze into the market.

"However, the ownership of the core technology is the real barrier to entry for this market," said Gu Weidong, general manager of Jiangxi Yibo.

The company decided to increase its research and development efforts to tackle the technical barriers set by those international giants.

Jiangxi Yibo invested more than 30 percent of its sales revenue in R&D.

The local government helped it to apply for 10 million yuan ($1.49 million) in loans to facilitate its development.

Up to now, the company has applied for 415 patents and has been granted 313. Leveraging on its expanded research capacity, the company has grasped about 10 percent of the global market, according to Gu.

Starting from scratch, Jiangxi Yibo's growth process reflects the overall industrial development story in Xinyu.

The city had regarded the steel industry as its backbone for a long time. But this over reliance is now curbing the new growth of its economy.

To accelerate the pace of industrial restructuring and relieve downward pressure on the economy, the city cultivated innovative industries, such as photoelectric information, new materials, lithium and equipment manufacturing.

This year, the city's industrial economy continued to recover. The role of innovative industries as a solid support to new growth in economy has strengthened.

The first half of 2017 saw Jiangxi continue to deepen the reform of its commercial system.

Based on the requirements of strengthening supervision, optimizing market regulation and improving the market environment, Jiangxi's economy is experiencing harmony and stability, according to Jiangxi officials.

"The first half of 2017 marked fast growth in new industries. The modern service industry based on Internet Plus technologies showed great potential for growth," said a government official from the Jiangxi Administration for Industry and Commerce.

The role of high-tech industries in supporting the rapid growth of the manufacturing industry is another highlight. The number of newly registered market bodies belonging to the high-tech manufacturing industry grew by 55 percent compared with last year.

From January to June this year, the added value of the province's strategic industries hit 58.55 billion yuan; the added value of high-tech industries reached 119.52 billion yuan, an increase of 11 percent year-on-year.

Last year, individuals and organizations in Jiangxi filed 61,000 patent applications, an increase of 65.9 percent from the year before.

The growth rate topped other provinces and regions nationwide.

More than half of Jiangxi-based patent applications have been filed through agencies. Every year, more than 400 people in the province apply to take the national patent agent examination.

(China Daily 08/09/2017 page24)