Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone is known as the "Silicon Valley" in Anhui province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone (Hefei high-tech zone) is an industrial zone similar to Silicon Valley located in Hefei, capital of Anhui province.

The zone is home to China Speech Valley, the first national-level AI industrial park, and is known as the Quantum Center for its pioneering quantum technology industry.

Hefei high-tech zone is the core area of the Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, the Hefei Area in the China (Anhui) Pilot Free Trade Zone, and the USTC Silicon Valley (an innovation area relying on the sci-tech innovation of the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei).

As one of the first national high-tech zones ratified by the State Council in 1991, Hefei high-tech zone has maintained a leading position among the country's 169 national high-tech zones, ranking sixth in 2019, the highest ranking in its history.

It has achieved numerous honors, including being named a National Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone, National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Demonstration Base, and seeks to build China into an innovative country and Hefei into an innovation hub.

In April 2018, Hefei high-tech zone was included in the list of world-class high-tech parks by the Torch Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology, enabling it to enter the national team participating in global technology competitions.

The zone administers an area of 128 square kilometers and home to more than 40,000 enterprises and a number of scientific institutes, including representative tech firms such as iFLYTEK, which was selected among the first group of four national AI open innovation platforms, and the National Quantum Information Laboratory, construction on which is being accelerated.

Through years of development, Hefei high-tech zone has formed a complete industrial system. It focuses on high-end industries including AI, quantum information, integrated circuits, biomedicine, new energy and advanced manufacturing, and has formed clusters revolving around those industries through a number of leading enterprises including iFlytek, SUN CREATE, Huami, Sungrow, GuoChuang and AnkeBio.

The zone boasts abundant innovation resources. A number of collaborative innovation platforms such as the Institute of Advanced Technology, University of Science and Technology of China, and the CAS (Hefei) Institute of Technology Innovation Co Ltd are located in the zone, and national research and development platforms such as the quantum information and quantum technology innovation research institute and the National Engineering Laboratory for Brain-inspired Intelligence have been established in the zone.

The zone is home to more than 550 high-level skilled workers above the city level and more than 10,000 overseas skilled workers. It has 91 incubation platforms and has gathered more than 200 investment funds to serve local sci-tech enterprises.

With Xinqiao International Airport to the north and Zipeng Mountain National Forest Park to the south, Hefei high-tech zone is ideally located.

The zone is 10 kilometers from Hefei South Station in the east and half an hour's drive from downtown Lu'an. The Hefei-Huainan-Fuyang Expressway and Changjiang West Skyway run through the zone. Metro Lines 2, 4 and 6 (being planned) lead directly to Hefei city center.

The infrastructure and facilities in the zone are robust, with extensive road networks and abundant high-quality resources in education and healthcare, such as No 7 Middle School of Hefei, the Sino-Canada Concord School of Hefei High-tech Zone, and the high-tech zone branch of the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei International Talent City and Sasseur Outlets. Located close to Dashu Mountain National Forest Park, Boyan Lake and Shuxi Lake, its urban green coverage rate stands at 45 percent.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), the zone will continue to prioritize innovation and make good use of science and technology resources in the zone to foster more innovative technological achievements with global influence.

By 2035, the zone is expected to be at the forefront of global high-tech parks, become the core hub of the global innovation and entrepreneurship network, an important source of global original technology and industry, a driver of China's development into an innovative country, and realize the vision of being a "wealthy, harmonious and beautiful high-tech zone".