Zhangjiagang Bonded Zone in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province makes strong efforts to boost innovation. [Photo by Qu Liangbin/zjgonline.com.cn]

Zhangjiagang Bonded Zone in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province is making strong efforts to boost innovation, attract innovative resources, and stimulate enterprises' innovation vitality in recent years, aiming to create a better environment for sustainable development, local media reported on Dec 24.

The local government has rolled out an array of supportive measures to promote innovation among enterprises, including establishing a credit system to attract high-level technological talent, protecting intellectual property rights, and cultivating high-tech enterprises.

Special funds have also been allocated to encourage enterprises to increase investment in research and development (R&D). Statistics show that industrial enterprises above designated size in the zone invested 2.7 billion yuan ($413.74 million) in R&D in 2019, and a total of 2.7 million yuan was awarded to outstanding R&D professionals last year.

Preferential policies have also been released to attract R&D institutions. The zone is currently home to 122 R&D institutions at or above the provincial level, including three national postdoctoral workstations, five provincial academician workstations and one provincial key laboratory.

Efforts have also been made to set up platforms for innovation, such as the industrial park for magnetic sensing and the sci-tech innovation park. Zhangjiagang is expected to establish more than 200,000 square meters of platforms for innovation and entrepreneurship by the end of the year.