The R&D expenditure in Ningbo High-tech District soared 57 percent to more than 1.5 billion yuan ($223 million) in 2019, accounting for 7.1 percent of the district's GDP, according to local media reports. 

The figure is 2.5 times higher than Ningbo's average and ranks higher than any other district in the city. 

Mao Lei, general manager of Ningbo Novel Optics Co Ltd, a local manufacturer of precision optical instruments and core optical components, said that the increasing investment in R&D has become an engine for the company's sustainable development.

He revealed that Novel Optics spent more than 40 million yuan on R&D last year, which accounted for 7.6 percent of the company's revenue. 

TCL Communications' Ningbo R&D Center files 100 patent applications annually. The company's R&D investment is expected to reach 140 million yuan this year.

Last year, the added value of the high-tech sectors in the district grew 18.5 percent year-on-year, accounting for 90 percent of its total industrial added value above a designated size. 

The growth rate for high-tech enterprises in the district doubled that of the previous year. There are now more than 210 invention patents per 10,000 people in the district.

In 2019, Novel Optics won the second prize in national technological invention. Self Electronics Co Ltd and Ningbo Exciton Technology Co Ltd were listed as national enterprise technological centers.

The district's Liyun industrial Park was also designated a national demonstration base for entrepreneurship and innovation among small and micro enterprises.

This year, the district will focus on software, new materials and biomedicine, revealed an official from the district's administrative committee.