The Urban Economic Research Center of CCID Consulting recently released its 2025 list of China's top 100 innovative districts. Four districts from Hunan Province made the list, all located in Changsha. They were Yuhua, Tianxin, Kaifu, and Furong districts, ranking 10th, 47th, 75th, and 77th respectively.

Compared to last year's rankings, Yuhua District maintained its position in the top ten after first entering the list of China's top ten innovative districts in 2024. Tianxin District retained its previous ranking, Kaifu District moved up one place, and Furong District advanced two places.

The selection was based on a comprehensive evaluation of the innovation capabilities of urban districts in prefecture-level cities across China, excluding municipalities directly under the central government, national new areas, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region, and Taiwan. The evaluation system includes four primary indicators—innovation ecosystem, innovation power, innovation entities, and innovation achievements—along with 16 secondary indicators.

Innovation ability is the "source of living water" for the economic prosperity and development of urban districts. In June 2023, Changsha embarked on its journey to build a global R&D center city, accelerating the release of sci-tech innovation vitality across its urban districts. Over the past two years, Changsha's overall R&D investment intensity, measured by the ratio of R&D investment to GDP, has risen to 3.3%, propelling it to rank 23rd among global scientific research cities. Boasting 3,400 innovation platforms and 8,600 high-tech enterprises, the city has made breakthroughs in 95 key core technologies.

In 2024, Yuhua District's total GDP ranked first among all districts and counties in Hunan Province, with 730 high-tech enterprises and 208 R&D and innovation platforms. The district retained its position among the top ten nationwide and ranked first in the central and western regions of China in the high-quality development rankings published by Yicheng Think Tank, CCID Consulting, and the Small and Medium-Sized Cities Research Institute, maintaining its leading position as the top district in central and western China.

Tianxin District has 117 national, provincial, and municipal innovation platforms and 533 high-tech enterprises, with its 2.78 percent R&D investment intensity ranking first among urban districts. Kaifu District has gathered 10 high-level major platforms, including Furong Laboratory and the large aircraft ground dynamics test platform, bringing the total number of innovative platforms to over 200. Furong District is home to the province's first offshore R&D center, the "China-Brazil Offshore R&D Center for Corn Seed Industry." There are 460 high-tech enterprises in the district.

CCID Consulting is a state-level think tank directly affiliated to the China Center for Information Industry Development, which is under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Kuang Zhenzhen

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn