Xiamen Torch Development Zone for High Technology Industries. [provided to CHINA DAILY]

Xiamen Torch Development Zone for High Technology Industries in Xiamen, East China's Fujian province, is consolidating its leading position by issuing policies to cultivate "little giant companies". 

Little giant companies refer to leading small and medium-sized enterprises that specialize in niche sectors, command a high market share and boast strong innovative capacity and core technologies. 

Since it was established in 1990 and later approved among the first batch of national high-tech zones by the State Council in 1991, the zone has been on a development fast track. 

This month, the Fujian Department of Commerce announced the results of an evaluation of the comprehensive development level of 97 development zones located in the province. Xiamen Torch Development Zone for High Technology Industries ranked first among them. Its development in terms of scale, intensive land use, scientific and technological innovation, open cooperation and actual utilization of foreign capital topped all zones. 

Local officials said that it's the sixth consecutive year that the zone has taken first place in the big test held by the provincial government. 

The zone also shows its vibrant and strong performance in other rankings. It ranked 16th among 169 national high-tech zones in China; its photoelectric display industry has been awarded the highest level for the second consecutive year; for the third time, its efforts to promote mass entrepreneurship and innovation were praised by the General Office of the State Council. 

From January to September this year, the industrial added value of the zone increased by 12.1 percent and the investment in fixed assets increased by 28.3 percent. A total of 1,246 new projects with a total investment of 117.53 billion yuan ($18.38 billion) got off the ground. Of them, 35 are leading projects with a total investment of 27.47 billion yuan. 

During the same period, the actual investment from domestic capital stood at 18.61 billion yuan and the investment from foreign capital was 1.42 billion yuan. The total paid-in foreign investment made in the zone reached 3.2 billion yuan. 

This year, for those little giant companies, the zone has issued a series of policies to offer them support.