Officials sign agreements in Wuhan on May 24. [Photo/WeChat account of Optics Valley of China]

East Lake High-tech Development Zone – also known as Optics Valley of China and located in Wuhan, capital city of Central China's Hubei province – signed agreements for 16 major projects to locate there on May 24, during its investment attraction event for the second quarter.

The 16 projects, valued at 36.47 billion yuan ($5.69 billion), cover a wide range of areas. These include research and development, special equipment, the internet of things, business services and industrial investment – all of which are expected to inject new impetus into the economic development and technological innovation of Optics Valley.

Among them, an R&D center for Hikvision Wuhan will conduct research into the commercialization of products related to industrial automation, automotive electronics, storage devices and IoT sensors, among others.

Elsewhere, UnionTech Software Technology plans to invest 300 million yuan in Optics Valley to build its second headquarters, which will have a software R&D center and a general software and hardware adaptation certification center.

Optics Valley is currently accelerating construction of the East Lake Science City and pushing construction of various major innovation platforms. It is focusing on solving problems for resident businesses and is continuing efforts to optimize its business environment.

From January to April this year, Optics Valley completed fixed asset investment of 37.25 billion yuan, an increase of 43.9 percent compared with 2019, ranking it first in Wuhan in terms of total volume and the growth rate.

Construction of 60 new projects with a total investment of 74.98 billion yuan began during the period, each with investment of over 100 million yuan.