Southern Taihu Lake New District in Huzhou has emerged as a gathering ground for innovation resources in the Yangtze River Delta region, which encompasses the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui and Shanghai municipality. 

The district, as its name indicates, is situated south of Taihu Lake, the third-largest fresh lake in China.

With the integration of the YRD picking up pace, a number of innovation platforms have been established in the district, injecting new vitality into its development.

Since last year, the district has brought in nine platforms co-built with universities such as Zhejiang University and East China University of Science and Technology as well as 18 maker spaces, half of which are from the YRD.

In less than a year after its establishment, the Huzhou Green intelligent manufacturing industrial technology research institute has built eight R&D centers and introduced five research teams which are included in the Southern Taihu Lake Elite Plan, an initiative launched by the local authorities to recruit high-caliber professionals.

The institute, jointly built by the local government and academician Tan Jianrong from Zhejiang University, has provided technical services for more than 300 enterprises to date.

A company incubated by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Huzhou, which specializes in the R&D and production of flaxseed, saw its product share increase to 90 percent in its niche market. 

Another company dedicated to the development of kits for vaccines and cell therapy, which was also incubated by the CAS, reported an output value of 19.08 million yuan ($2.76 million) in the first five months. 

Founded in the Southern Taihu Lake New District in September 2019, Jiantian, a Shanghai-based Internet of Things maker space, has attracted more than 20 science and innovation enterprises from around the YRD.

The strong results can also be attributed to efforts by local authorities to attract talent.

In May, the local government launched an innovation and entrepreneurship competition in Shanghai to lure high-profile professionals from around the delta. Winners of the contests received up to 30.8 million yuan in subsidies. To date, preliminaries in Shanghai, Changzhou and Hefei have wrapped up.

Official data show a total of 34 investment projects costing 67.37 billion yuan have already been established in the Southern Taihu Lake New District as of May this year, more than 70 percent of which are from the YRD.