Center of innovation

The province aims to build China's own global technology and innovation center for modern industrial development. Jointly founded by the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, the Anhui provincial government and the Hefei municipal government, the center — known as USTC Innovation Valley — was established in Anhui's capital last year. The co-founders will invest in and support global talents to incubate tech breakthroughs at the center.

On Aug 4, the first group of 25 global partners signed contracts with USTC Innovation Valley, aiming to "build an innovation system where scientists can do research and development, incubate ideas into a business, find partners, start companies and cooperate with industrial chain providers — all in a single building", said Wu Huilong, chairman of the valley's service platform company.

By 2025, the facility is expected to host more than 100,000 high-level talents from across the world and nurture 1,000 high-tech enterprises. Anhui is betting big on strategic, emerging industries for long-term innovative development. The provincial government outlined several future industries, including new energy, in its development plan for its 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25).

The province also aims to raise the share of nonfossil fuels in total energy consumption to 15.5 percent by 2025, from 9.7 percent in 2020, by accelerating the application of renewable sources, such as solar, wind and biomass.