Future industries help foster new quality productive forces in Wuxi

A bird's-eye view of Wuxi. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Wuxi in East China's Jiangsu province is developing new quality productive forces by establishing a future industry development system and increasing policy support.

The city's future industry development system features five main sectors – artificial general intelligence (AGI), quantum science and technology, third-generation semiconductors, hydrogen and energy storage, and deep-sea equipment, while sectors such as low-altitude economy and commercial spaceflight are also showing promise.

Local AGI industrial parks such as the Wuxi Artificial Intelligence Collaborative Innovation Base in Liangxi district have formed an efficient industry-university-research coordination system, promoting the application of AGI in industrial internet, intelligent manufacturing, and other areas.

The Institute of Quantum Sensing of Wuxi in Huishan district. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The Institute of Quantum Sensing of Wuxi in Huishan district has developed multiple types of innovative quantum precision measurement equipment, high-end scientific instruments, and core components, while enterprises cultivated by the institute have largely succeeded in commercializing research results.

Wuxi is reputed as the center of China's semiconductor industry. The IoT-Park in Xinwu district, the Yangtze River Delta Integrated Circuit Industrial Application and Technological Innovation Center in Xishan district, and the National Integrated Circuit (Wuxi) Design Center in Binhu district are collaborating to develop core technologies for mass production as well as packaging technology for third-generation semiconductors.

Relying on its solid foundation in new energy, Wuxi boasts unique advantages in developing hydrogen and energy storage. A new energy industrial system highlighting photovoltaic power, wind power, lithium batteries, sodium-ion batteries, hydrogen and energy storage, for example, has taken shape in Xishan district through the establishment of industrial parks.

The Taihu Laboratory of Deep Sea Technological Science in Binhu district. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Deep-sea equipment is one of Wuxi's major future industries. The Taihu Laboratory of Deep Sea Technological Science in Binhu district specializes in making breakthroughs in deep-sea carrying, deep-sea work, and deep-sea information technologies.

Low-altitude economy and commercial spaceflight are also becoming major driving forces behind future industry development in Wuxi.

Yixing, a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Wuxi, has gathered 33 smart general aviation enterprises, and in April, Wuxi launched its first low-altitude drone delivery flights in Liangxi, Xinwu, and Binhu districts. The city has already been approved to operate seven such flight routes.

Exhibits at the aerospace industry exhibition hall in Liangxi district. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

An early player in the commercial spaceflight industry, Wuxi was already home to 102 aerospace enterprises in 2022 with combined main operating revenue of 25.27 billion yuan ($3.49 billion). Liangxi district, for example, has established the goal of making, sending up, and utilizing satellites, and the district has nearly formed a complete industrial chain integrating basic research, R&D, manufacturing, application, and platform services.

Wuxi will continue increasing its policy support for the development of new quality productive forces. By 2030, the city is expected to establish at least 30 public service platforms for future industries, channel local funds into key areas, reinforce data and computing power support, and scale up support for technological breakthroughs, industrial park construction, and application scenario development.

By 2025, Wuxi will build at least five proof-of-concept centers and pilot test platforms for future industries, and by 2030, it will see no less than 15 technological innovation center and engineering research centers for the industries.