Nine years after first breaking through the trillion yuan mark, Wuhan's economic aggregate surpassed 2 trillion yuan in 2023, becoming the first city in central China to reach this milestone. Now, facing the national strategy of accelerating the development of new productivity, how does Wuhan implement precise measures and ride the trend?

01

Innovation Capability

The core of new productivity lies in innovation, and Wuhan, as a major hub of innovation, possesses unique advantages for developing new productivity.

As everyone knows, Wuhan is known as the "City of Universities." According to statistics, Wuhan boasts 23 top scientific research institutions and 92 institutions of higher learning, with the number of "Double First-Class" disciplines ranking fourth in China. Meanwhile, Wuhan also has the largest number of undergraduate students in China, and its graduate student population ranks third nationally, after Beijing and Shanghai.

Furthermore, Wuhan possesses over 120 national-level major scientific and technological innovation platforms, accounting for almost 80% of the province's total. These include 1 national laboratory, 30 national key laboratories, 8 national major scientific and technological infrastructures, 7 national engineering research centers, 2 national technology innovation centers, 1 national clinical medicine research center, 18 national engineering technology research centers, 1 national industrial innovation center, 44 national enterprise technology centers, 2 national manufacturing innovation centers, 2 national science and technology resource sharing service platforms, and 8 national field scientific observation and research stations.

Wuhan's innovation capability and influence continue to rise. In the "National Innovative City Innovation Capability Evaluation Report 2022," Wuhan ranked fifth nationwide. In the "Nature Index 2023 – Research Cities" ranking by Nature magazine, Wuhan even ranked among the top ten globally, standing shoulder to shoulder with the world's top research cities. Additionally, in the "Global Innovation Index 2023" report released by the World Intellectual Property Organization, Wuhan's science and technology cluster has steadily risen in rank for six consecutive years, jumping to 13th globally and 5th domestically this year.

02

Transformation Capability

Despite its strong innovation capability, the key to driving a qualitative leap in productivity lies in transformation.

For a long time, Wuhan faced difficulties in transforming scientific and technological achievements into practical applications. A staff member from the Wuhan Institute of Biotechnology said, "How to transform Wuhan's scientific and educational advantages, geographical advantages, and medical advantages into industrial advantages was an urgent problem we needed to solve at that time."

A turning point emerged in April 2022 when Wuhan was approved to build a nationally influential science and technology innovation center, becoming the only one in central China and the fifth nationwide. In the same month, the Wuhan Institute of Innovation, a newly established research institution focused on, officially commenced operations, with many staff members having work experience in high-level scientific research platforms and technology-based enterprises in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

In recent years, Wuhan has continued to intensify efforts to promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, striving to smoothly connect every "mile" from technology to product and then to commodity.

On January 28, Wuhan specifically issued the "Several Policy Measures to Promote the Transformation of Scientific and Technological Achievements," proposing to build a "use"-oriented system for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. The measures aim to accelerate the transformation of Wuhan's scientific and educational talent advantages into innovation advantages from three directions: "supply side," "demand side," and "service side."

Wang Huizhong from the Wuhan Institute of Industrial Innovation and Development mentioned in an interview with Southern Weekend that "the Measures issued this time can be regarded as the 'Golden 20 Clauses,' with the promotion of 'time-limited transformation' of job-related scientific and technological achievements being a national first, addressing the pain points of 'unwillingness' and 'difficulty' in transferring scientific and technological achievements." "Investment incentives and loss subsidies for early-stage investments have also attracted the attention of many outstanding investment institutions from other regions, with many entrepreneurs and investors from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen inquiring about specific policies from us."

Relying on Wuhan's innovation and transformation capabilities, the city has successfully cultivated multiple "trillion-yuan" innovation industry clusters in optoelectronics information, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, digital economy, and other fields. These clusters have not only reshaped the height and depth of the industrial chain but also significantly enhanced the gold content of Wuhan's economy and its competitiveness on the international stage, injecting endless vitality and momentum into Wuhan's long-term development.

Taking Wuhan Optics Valley as an example, it is China's optoelectronics industry base and the world's largest research and production base for optical communications, with the largest production scale of optical fibers and cables globally. Optics Valley boasts 5 national major infrastructures, 5 national innovation centers, and 6 Hubei laboratories. Supported by a series of innovation policies, Optics Valley has formed an innovation ecosystem, attracting 16,000 optoelectronics information enterprises, with the scale of industrial clusters exceeding 500 billion yuan.