On October 30, a press conference in the series on Hunan's achievements during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period (2021-2025), with a special session by Xiangtan City, was held in Changsha. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Xiangtan City has taken the building of a national innovative city as the overarching framework, deployed innovation chains around industrial chains, mobilized talent chains, and deployed capital chains. The city has deeply implemented the "133" scientific and technological innovation plan, striving to exceed 1,000 high-tech enterprises, achieve an R&D investment intensity of 3.0%, and surpass 300 innovation platforms at or above the provincial level by the end of 2025. In 2024, Xiangtan City rose to 60th place on the National Innovative City Innovation Capability Index ranking.

Over the past five years, Xiangtan City has accelerated the cultivation of innovation entities. The proportion of total output value from strategic emerging industries in total industrial output value increased from 27.6% in 2020 to 33.2% in 2024, while the share of investment in high-tech industries rose from 14% in 2020 to 21.8% in 2024. In 2024, the city had 235 high-tech enterprises per 10,000 corporate legal entities, with an R&D investment intensity of 3.46%, ranking first in the province. Currently, Xiangtan has over 306 innovation platforms at or above the provincial level and 865 high-tech enterprises, with enterprises becoming explorers and leaders in innovation-driven development.

Xiangtan has taken the lead in implementing the "use first, pay later" model, promoting the transformation and implementation of a number of scientific research projects, such as magnesium-based new materials from Central South University and sodium-ion battery materials from Xiangtan University. The Xiangtan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. achieved domestic substitution with ultra-high-strength steel, and the  Hainiu (Manatee) deep-sea drilling rig system and coring technology developed by Professor Wan Buyan's team from Hunan University of Science and Technology won the second prize of the National Technological Invention Award. The comprehensive underwater electroacoustic conversion test facility led by Academician Luo An of Hunan University is accelerating construction according to the standards of a major national scientific research device.

Xiangtan has implemented a university-enterprise talent co-introduction and sharing model of "positions at universities, services in enterprises," supporting 70 sci-tech innovation teams in key fields, with 42 individuals selected as provincial sci-tech innovation talents in 2025, ranking second provincewide. This has promoted cooperation between over 300 enterprises and more than 100 universities, with over 20 institutions setting up customized classes and deploying resident experts for more than 200 enterprises, cultivating over 2,000 high-skilled talents of various types.

Xiangtan has established Hunan's first first-loan and loan renewal center and intellectual property financial supermarket, cumulatively issuing 5.166 billion yuan in knowledge-value credit loans to 890 technology-based enterprises, achieving close integration between technology, industry, and finance.

Xiangtan City's regional GDP grew from 228.651 billion yuan in 2020 to 295.706 billion yuan in 2024. The figure is expected to surpass the 300 billion yuan milestone this year, with per capita regional GDP exceeding 100,000 yuan.

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn