The municipal government's work report for this year outlined specific plans to accelerate the construction of a modern industrial city that is dynamic and distinctly advantageous. To better leverage the five leading industries as a guide and promote intelligent, green, and integrated industrial development, deputies and committee members attending the municipal Two Sessions have stated their commitment to prioritizing industry and projects, aiming to accelerate progress and explore new frontiers on the track of high-quality development.
Building Industrial Clusters to Shape New Advantages
In the first half of this year, the biomedical industry in the Shijiazhuang High-tech Zone delivered an impressive performance: revenue of regulated biomedical enterprises grew by 47.9%; Yiling Pharmaceutical and CSPC Pharmaceutical Group each had one new Class 2 drug approved for market; and CSPC Pharmaceutical Group has received $1.225 billion in upfront payments and milestone payments from AstraZeneca under their cooperation agreement. "This signals that the high-quality development landscape of the biomedical industry in the high-tech zone is rapidly taking shape," said Gao Jian, a municipal committee member and president of the Shijiazhuang High-tech Zone Biomedical Industry Research Institute.
Enhancing the scale, strength, and comprehensive competitiveness of leading industries was also a focal point for many deputies and committee members. "I suggest accelerating the construction of the Yanzhao Electronic Information Laboratory to build an innovation highland for the electronic information industry in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region," said Wang Youjian, a committee member from the Sixth Design Institute of Machinery Industry. He proposed that the laboratory anchor its focus on the main industrial directions of Hebei and Shijiazhuang, with key layouts in seven segments including semiconductors and integrated circuits, modern communications, and space-air information and satellite applications, to efficiently attract cutting-edge technologies, quality projects, and high-end talent from Beijing and Tianjin to Shijiazhuang.
Xu Shengyin, a municipal deputy and Party secretary of Zhao County, stated that efforts will be made to strengthen the park's cost leadership and technological innovation empowerment, creating more single-champion and hidden-champion products in pharmaceutical intermediates and raw materials such as penicillin V potassium. The county will also extend to downstream industries by compiling and implementing industrial chain maps for investment attraction, focusing on high-end formulations, tonifying medicines, and pharmaceutical-device integration, so that Zhao County's biomedical industry gains prominence in the city and province and influence nationwide.
As the country's largest railway freight car manufacturing and repair base, the "century-old enterprise" CRRC Shijiazhuang Co., Ltd. will continue to intensify efforts around the integration of artificial intelligence technology and equipment, allowing traditional manufacturing to board the "train" of the AI era. "We will accelerate the completion of a nationally leading intelligent laboratory, collaborate with well-known provincial and municipal research institutions on joint technical breakthroughs, and produce a batch of applicable, replicable digital and intelligent technologies and intellectual property," said Zhang Jianwu, a municipal deputy and Party secretary and chairman of CRRC Shijiazhuang Co., Ltd.
Project Breakthroughs to Solidify Development Support
In the territory of Chenzhuang Town and Zhaitu Township in Lingshou County, the billion-yuan clean energy project, the Lingshou Pumped Storage Power Station, is fully advancing the construction of main structures including the upper and lower reservoirs and the water conveyance and power generation system. It is expected to achieve grid connection for the first unit by the end of 2028 and full operation of all units by the end of 2029. "We will leverage the coordinating role of the project work team, closely monitor key milestones, strictly control the construction schedule, strengthen factor guarantees, provide precise front-line services, and promptly resolve construction challenges," said Jin Jun, a municipal deputy and Party secretary of Lingshou County.
The sustained advancement of strong projects relies on solid efforts in open investment attraction and park development. Han Jie, a municipal committee member and Party secretary and chairman of Shijiazhuang State-owned Capital Operation Group, stated that the group will adhere to the approach of "investing out and bringing in," continuously connecting with quality projects inside and outside the region. At the same time, a "City Reception Hall" and investment funds will be established to precisely capture hard-tech future industry projects, such as bit quantum computing and medical brain-computer interfaces, for landing in Shijiazhuang.
As one of the "two wings" of the city's high-quality development, the Shijiazhuang Economic Development Zone, while promoting the rapid construction and early efficiency of 33 key projects with a total investment of 37.31 billion yuan, is focusing on building a low-cost park with strong supporting service capabilities. "We will accelerate the construction of supporting facilities such as the energy island to provide strong support for efficient enterprise operations through complete factor guarantees," said Liang Lijie, a municipal committee member and deputy Party secretary of the Shijiazhuang Economic Development Zone's Party Working Committee, adding that efforts will continue to promote intelligent upgrades of approval software, achieving a 100% online processing rate for all processes, and continuously improving the park's comprehensive support and service capabilities.
Optimizing the Environment to Polish the Business "Golden Card"
A favorable business environment serves as a "strong magnetic field" for industrial agglomeration. Shi Jianhui, a municipal deputy and Party secretary of Shijiazhuang No.4 Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., found in his research that building a digital talent team that matches industrial development is urgent. He suggested deepening industry-education integration to establish a training system for interdisciplinary talent combining "AI + pharmaceuticals"; innovating talent recruitment and employment mechanisms, focusing on bringing in leading interdisciplinary talent who understand both AI technology and the logic of the biomedical industry; strengthening job skill enhancement for existing staff to solidify the foundation for AI applications; and reinforcing the data and platform base to create integrated application scenarios for "AI + pharmaceuticals," using scenarios to drive the release of talent value.
How can young people be attracted, retained, and developed well? Wang Xiaoran, a municipal deputy and Party secretary of the Communist Youth League Shijiazhuang Committee, has been pondering this question. "Building a youth-development-friendly city hinges on retaining people and winning their hearts," Wang Xiaoran said. She believes it is essential to care for and support young people in achieving their dreams, to understand, nurture, and benefit them, so that their voices are heard, their growth is visible, and their guarantees are tangible.
Optimizing the business environment also requires institutional innovation. In recent years, the city has deeply carried out special actions to deepen and enhance state-owned enterprise reform, promoting the integration of 77 municipal SOEs into a "5+2" structure. Total assets have grown by 83.8% compared with before the restructuring, forming a high-credit entity matrix with five AAA and seven AA+ ratings. Su Junxian, a municipal committee member and Party secretary and director of the Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, stated that further deepening of state-owned asset and enterprise reform will be pursued, accelerating the creation of innovative, functionally prominent, well-governed, and vibrant modern new SOEs, and comprehensively promoting a new brand for Shijiazhuang's state-owned assets and enterprises.