Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang province aims to increase its national ranking for innovation capability from 15th to 12th during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, according to a recent report by local authorities. 

The report also states that Ningbo aims to become an innovation hub for new materials, industrial internet and key basic components by 2025.

Local authorities have set the goal of lifting the proportion of R&D expenditure to the city's GDP by 3.6 percent and hosting 8,000 high-tech companies and over 30,000 small and medium-sized technology enterprises by 2025.

International patent applications filed via WIPO's Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), one of the most widely used metrics for measuring innovative activity, is expected to reach 1,200 by 2025.

By that time, the added value of high-tech industries in the city should also account for more than 60 percent of the added value of industries above designated size.

The city has made great strides in innovation capability improvement during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period.

Official statistics show that Ningbo obtained 236 science and technology awards at or above the provincial level, including 20 at the national level, during the period, an increase of nearly 40 percent over the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) period.

The number of high-tech companies in the city had increased from 1,519 in 2015 to 3,103 in 2020. More than 4,000 research organs were set up during this period.

The city's fiscal investment in science and technology topped 43 billion yuan ($6.6 billion) during the five-year period, 2.3 times more than the previous five-year period.