The new materials sector in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province was recently shortlisted to become a national advanced manufacturing cluster.

A total of 20 industrial clusters across the nation made the list after passing the preliminary of a contest sponsored by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Five were from Zhejiang, more than any other province or municipality. 

Launched in March, the competition comes as part of the ministry's efforts to echo the central government's call to promote China's advancement into the mid-to high-end global value chain and foster a number of world-class advanced manufacturing clusters.

The four other clusters in Zhejiang to be shortlisted are the digital security industrial cluster in Hangzhou, electric industrial cluster in Yueqing, Wenzhou, modern textile industrial cluster in Shaoxing and modern hardware industrial cluster in Jinhua.

Each cluster will be granted a subsidy of 10 million yuan ($1.45 million) by the central government. 

In 2003, Zhejiang put forward the strategy to accelerate the construction of advanced manufacturing bases, which is now seeing strong results.

The output of the digital security industry cluster in Hangzhou accounts for 55.5 percent of the total in the country, and its video surveillance products make up nearly half of the global market share, official data show.

In Leqing, Wenzhou, the electric industrial cluster, with more than 6,000 types of products ranging from power transmission to transformation and distribution, accounts for over 65 percent of the domestic market share.

In March, the provincial authorities also unveiled an action plan to develop advanced manufacturing sectors with global competitiveness, such as digital security, green petrochemical, new energy automobiles and modern textiles. 

At present, Zhejiang is home to more than 80 industrial clusters with an annual output value of more than 10 billion yuan, including 12 industrial clusters with an annual output value of more than 100 billion yuan.