Hubei to build Wuhan as 'Innovation Special Zone'

Hubei province has released the "Special Action Plan to Stimulate Industrial Innovation in Wuhan", outlining a bold vision to transform the city into an integrated "Innovation Special Zone" combining technological and industrial innovation.

By 2028, the plan aims to significantly advance the local industrialization of scientific and technological achievements from Wuhan universities, with over 10,000 technologies put into application. Additionally, the city plans to attract and retain 1 million university graduates for employment and entrepreneurship, cultivate over 10 unicorn companies, and establish several world-class innovative industrial clusters.

The action plan, tailored to Wuhan's unique strengths, sets forth 19 tasks across six key areas. It seeks to use Wuhan's rich educational and scientific resources to foster a favorable ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship, with a focus on turning more tech companies into industry leaders.

A key priority is establishing a new hub for innovative talent. This includes strengthening recruitment and development of young talent, promoting low-cost entrepreneurship, and shifting talent selection strategies from "educational background-oriented" to "competence-based" approaches.

Furthermore, the plan emphasizes developing new supplies of advanced technology. It aims to create a collaborative supply system focused on ground-breaking technology sources, breakthroughs in systematic innovation platforms, and diverse channels for technology industrialization.

By focusing on scenario application development, enterprise gradient cultivation, and innovation park aggregation, the plan intends to adopt an "ecosystem empowerment" approach to cultivate innovation entities and address financing and application-scenario challenges.

The action plan also ensures support for industrial innovation through financial services, data resources, and government services.