High-growth enterprises in Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone, Anhui province serve as an engine for the zone's economic development. [Photo from WeChat account hefeigaoxinfabu]

A report on the development of the high-growth enterprises in the Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone, Anhui province was jointly released by the administrative committee of the zone and GEI, a professional consulting institute.

High-growth enterprises include gazelle enterprises that have overcome challenges and entered a fast-growing period, and unicorn enterprises (startups with valuation exceeding $1 billion).

According to the report, the revenue of high-growth enterprises has seen a big increase, making great contributions to the zone's economic development, based on research results from 132 high-growth enterprises including 83 gazelle enterprises, 43 enterprises cultivating to be gazelle enterprises, two potential unicorn enterprises and one unicorn enterprise.

Seen as a new engine of innovation, 132 high-growth enterprises gained total revenue of 26.67 billion yuan ($3.93 billion) in 2017, accounting for 11.6 percent of total revenue of enterprises in the high-tech zone. The high-growth enterprises also saw a compound growth rate of 41.7 in total revenue from 2015 to 2017, 4.8 times that of all enterprises in the zone.

In addition, the compound growth rate of high-growth enterprises' investment in research and development over the last three years has reached 40.7 percent.

With features such as fast growth, strong creative ability and great potential, high-growth enterprises have become an important force in fostering Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone's economic development.