Taicang on cutting edge of development

County-level city emerging as national juggernaut across multiple sectors

Taicang, a county-level city in Suzhou of East China's Jiangsu province, is taking impressive strides in establishing itself as a sci-tech powerhouse.

According to official statistics, Taicang is one of China's top 100 counties for scientific and technological innovation. In 2023, it was listed as a national-level innovation-oriented city development, ranking first in the eastern region. In 2022, it made the first batch of Jiangsu's construction list for innovation demonstration counties, cities and districts.

Focused on the cultivation of a ladder-type ecosystem for technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises, high-tech businesses, gazelle companies and unicorn companies, Taicang continues to foster a group of high-quality enterprises with core technology, independent intellectual property rights and international competitiveness, providing strong support for building high-level industrial innovation clusters.

Official data show that the city's technology-based SMEs grew from 840 in 2020 to 1,880 in 2023 — a 123 percent increase. Meanwhile, high-tech enterprises rose from 676 to 1,175, representing a 74 percent growth rate. Taicang is now home to 19 unicorn companies and 133 gazelle companies.

Currently, Taicang is enhancing its innovation platforms by aligning innovation and industry chains, creating a "one city, one port, one valley and one corridor" layout centered around Loujiang New City, the Yangtze River smart port, Shaxi Biomedical Industrial Park and the Sino-German Innovation Corridor. The city supports more than 2 million square meters of innovation space and 65 incubation facilities, including 38 at provincial level and eight at national level.

Taicang promotes major innovation platforms like institutions for foreign-funded businesses and enterprises from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and supports large research institutions. To date, 10 institutions have been established, including two provincial-level scientific research units, three provincial-level new-type research and development institutions and six city-level new-type R&D institutions in Suzhou. Additionally, there are 77 provincial-level engineering technology research centers and 340 Suzhou-based engineering technology research centers.

As part of its development strategy, Taicang has strengthened its leadership in science and technology by building a team of talented individuals. The city is focused on constructing industry clusters and attracting high-quality talent to boost its key sectors. It has also simplified the process for establishing award-winning projects, leading to a rapid increase in entrepreneurship and the approval of 767 technology leadership projects. Additionally, it has seen significant growth in the number of high-level talent projects approved, ranking second in Suzhou in terms of national-level talent projects. The city has cultivated 54 national-level talents through independent applications and nurturing programs, and has six provincial-level teams, 121 provincial-level talents and 349 leading talents for entrepreneurship and innovation in Suzhou.

Meanwhile, Taicang is also implementing its sci-tech investment strategy by introducing a dedicated sci-tech investment team to effectively promote its projects and develop its innovation T-MAX brand. By partnering with well-known consulting firms and major research institutions, Taicang attracted more than 1,067 sci-tech talent projects with total registered capital of 9.18 billion yuan ($1.27 billion) in 2023.

Technological innovation to ensure high-quality industrial development is another priority. The city has strengthened its lead in its dominant industries while also growing in emerging industries. In advanced equipment manufacturing, Taicang has built several innovation institutions, gathering more than 2,000 businesses that produced a total output value of more than 130 billion yuan in 2023.

The city has also become one of China's key core component bases for the automotive industry, with 18 of the world's top 100 auto parts suppliers, including Bosch and Magna, on-site. Additionally, Taicang is home to 12 national specialized and sophisticated "little giant" businesses and 33 provincial-level intelligent workshops. For advanced materials, it has established 144 innovation platforms and research institutions. The industry saw a total output value of 100 billion yuan in 2023, earning the title of a national industrial base for special functional new materials.

In the biomedical industry, Taicang is a hub for outsourcing medical services, medical equipment and biopharmaceuticals, with more than 600 companies. The city has also been recognized as a national torch program-featured industrial base for biomedicine and a national-level science and technology enterprise incubator. As well, Taicang has attracted more than 100 low-altitude economy companies and earned approval as Suzhou's first and Jiangsu's second civil unmanned aerial vehicle flight test operation base.

Taicang's efforts to position itself as a pioneering player in the fields of optoelectronics, green technology and digital innovation through accelerating the construction of the China-EU (Taicang) Green Digital Innovation Cooperation Zone. On top of that, in recent years, the city has introduced comprehensive policies and guidelines to boost innovation and entrepreneurship.

By integrating technology and finance, Taicang has utilized 54 equity investment funds totaling nearly 30 billion yuan to launch such products as the "Loujiang tech innovation loan" and the "Taicang technology finance service express".