Hefei hosts the USTC Silicon Valley Innovation and Entrepreneurship Summit. [Photo/WeChat ID: hefeigaoxinfabu]

The USTC Silicon Valley Innovation and Entrepreneurship Summit was held on Dec 28 in the Hefei National High-Tech Industry Development Zone – located in Hefei city, capital of East China's Anhui province.

USTC stands for the University of Science and Technology of China – whose campus is situated in Hefei – and the event aimed to display the achievements made in the past year and promote in-depth, innovative development next year.

The Hefei High-tech Zone has ranked among the top 10 in the country's 169 national high-tech industrial zones for eight consecutive years.

There are more than 80,000 business entities in Hefei high-tech zone, including 2,550 national high-tech enterprises, some 1,054 high-growth enterprises and 36 listed enterprises.

In 2022, the number of high-growth enterprises in the Hefei high-tech zone exceeded 1,000 for the first time. The summit commended 32 high-growth enterprises that play a leading role in the development of emerging industries and regional innovation.

Representatives from high-growth businesses receive honors at the summit. [Photo/WeChat ID: hefeigaoxinfabu]

During the summit, the Hefei high-tech zone released a work plan to strengthen the self-innovation capability of resident companies.

In addition, 24 high-quality projects – with a total investment of more than 10 billion yuan ($1.44 billion) – were signed up at the summit.

They cover strategic emerging industries such as quantum information, artificial intelligence, and integrated circuits.