An innovation center is unveiled in the Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone in Anhui province on Jan 24. [Photo from WeChat account hefeigaoxinfabu]

An innovation center focusing on big data, cloud computing, the internet of things and artificial intelligence (AI) was unveiled in the Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone, Anhui province on Jan 24 to further the development of the city's new economy.

Jointly launched by the administrative committee of the zone, Aliyun, Alibaba's cloud computing and AI subsidiary, and Bywin Technology Co Ltd, the center will be Anhui's first maker space that focuses on the new economy represented by the four advanced fields, and will be an incubation base with rich resources and preferential policies from Alibaba and the local government.

Alibaba Group, as a tech giant in China, has a solid foundation for promoting innovative work and cultivating startups. The group has so far built 55 innovation centers nationwide and has successfully incubated more than 100,000 startups and over 450,000 professionals in science and technology, according to Li Zhongyu, general manager of Aliyun's incubation department.

"The innovation center in Hefei will bring in Alibaba's abundant resources to boost the high-tech zone's leapfrog development," said Li.

Song Daojun, director of Hefei high-tech zone's administrative committee, said Hefei is propelling the citywide innovation by concentrating on some emerging sectors such as AI, information security and life sciences. He believed there is great potential in developing the new economy and its related industries.