In 2023, the total industrial output value of E-Town New Area reached 520 billion yuan ($72.23 billion), accounting for 30 percent of the industrial added value of Beijing as a city. 

A Mercedes-Benz car on the production line [Photo/invest.beijingetown.com.cn]

Standing at a new starting point, how to cultivate new development engines while optimizing existing resources? E-Town's answer is by solidifying the foundation of high-end industries.

In September 2020, Beijing, with E-Town as its core, established the Beijing Municipal High-level Autonomous Driving Demonstration Zone Office, initiating the construction of the world's first high-level autonomous driving demonstration zone integrating vehicle, road and cloud. 

Currently, the demonstration zone has 28 testing vehicle companies, with a cumulative test mileage of over 20 million kilometers.

Furthermore, E-Town has already gathered more than 4,200 biotechnology and healthcare companies. Among the 34 cell and gene therapy medicines currently in clinical stages in Beijing, 21 are from E-Town. 

In 2023, the area provided over 100 million yuan in funding to 29 companies such as Evolyzer, Changmugu Medical, and Hiwise Medical.

In terms of building "soft" strengths such as a solid digital foundation, E-Town also has notable achievements. 

By 2025, a high-quality development system for the information technology application innovation industry will be established, with 100 application scenarios developed nationwide, gathering more than 400 information and innovation companies, and the industry's scale surpassing 100 billion yuan.

After nearly 10 years of cultivation, the commercial aerospace industry has become an emerging sector in E-Town's economic landscape. 

Six out of eight models of commercially launched rockets nationwide are from E-Town. The area is now home to more than 50 aerospace enterprises.