Innovation drives northeast China's revitalization

Aerial photo taken on June 27, 2021 shows Baihetan hydropower station in southwest China. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

HARBIN, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Harbin Electric Corporation, a leading Chinese electric machinery maker in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, provided cutting-edge power generating units for Baihetan hydropower station, the world's largest under construction.

In June, the Baihetan hydropower station on the Jinsha River, the upper section of the Yangtze River, officially went operational in southwest China, with two generating units in operation.

With a total installed capacity of 16 million kilowatts, the hydropower station is equipped with 16 hydro-generating units, each with a capacity of 1 million kilowatts, the largest single-unit capacity globally.

Harbin Electric Corporation has achieved many world-class technological breakthroughs to build the generating units with the world's largest single-unit capacity, said Liu Qingyong, assistant general manager of Harbin Electric.

To accelerate the revitalization of the country's northeast rustbelt region, enterprises need to speed up the pace of innovation and transform the development mode, Liu said at the 2021 Sun Island Annual Conference for Entrepreneurs held in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province, from Wednesday to Friday.

As an old industrial base, northeast China -- Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang provinces -- has struggled to grow following the decline of their traditional heavy industries.

In recent years, with a series of national policies to accelerate the revitalization of the old industrial base, the region has had a new development outlook.

In the first eight months of this year, leading carmaker China FAW Group Co., Ltd. in Jilin Province sold over 2.38 million vehicles, up 5.2 percent, year on year.

Quan Huaqiang, the chief accountant of FAW Group, said the company, with a research team of more than 4,000 people, is working hard to tackle several technology bottlenecks. Its Hongqi brand will likely launch 20 new products by 2025.

Ouyang Zhongcan, an academic with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes the abundance of the intellectual reserves is a distinct advantage of northeast China.

China's northeastern provinces are home to many universities, especially in the fields of science and technology.

In the future, the region can take advantage of its rich scientific and technological resources and focus on intelligent manufacturing, vehicle networking, and smart agriculture, Ouyang said.

Zhang Yiqian, vice president of Cedar Holdings, believes that enterprises in northeast China should seek to achieve key technological breakthroughs through continuous innovation to survive the competition and catch up with their best-performing rivals.

To promote innovation, Heilongjiang Province has made great efforts to improve its business environment.

In the first half of this year, high-tech manufacturing's investment in Heilongjiang increased by 41.3 percent year on year. It came after the province implemented an action plan to add more than 600 high-tech enterprises annually in the next three years to accelerate new growth-driver development.