The launch ceremony of a theme report conference titled "Accelerating the Transformation of the 'Three Advantages' and Reshaping the 'Importance' of Wuhan in the New Era" and the "Wuhan's New City · World's Optics Valley" Special Report Conference were held in Wuhan, Hubei province on June 27.

Nearly 400 entrepreneurs, science and technology workers, and other people based in the Wuhan East Lake High-tech Development Zone (also known as Optics Valley of China, or OVC) gathered to tell their stories of innovation and entrepreneurship.

The theme report conference kicks off. [Photo/WeChat account of Optics Valley of China]

As the first event in a series, the "Wuhan's New City · World's Optics Valley" Special Report Conference followed the opening ceremony. Du Haiyang, secretary of the Party work committee of the Wuhan East Lake High-tech Development Zone, delivered a speech, while eight entrepreneurs gave presentations and six company representatives shared their stories via videos, offering insights into the "importance" of OVC.

"The 'importance' of OVC lies in its technological competitiveness, industrial leadership, and talent attraction," said Du, talking about OVC's innovative efforts in accelerating the development of Wuhan New City and moving towards becoming a world-class optics valley.

As Wuhan's innovation hub and main economic engine, OVC's GDP accounted for 13.6 percent of Wuhan's GDP in 2023, while only occupying 6 percent of its land area.

With its unique industrial advantage, OVC's optoelectronic information industry has exceeded 500 billion yuan ($68.81 billion) in total scale. It has become the world's largest manufacturing base for optical fibers and cables, as well as a research, development and production base for optical modules.

Du stated that OVC is continuously enhancing the status of enterprises as innovation subjects and accelerating the cultivation and development of new quality productive forces so as to bring the "World's Optics Valley" to new heights.