?Representatives from 105 zones and the Suzhou Industrial Park shared their experiences concerning the construction of these zones, and explored ways to reform the science and technology systems, at the 10th Joint Conference for Directors of National High-Tech Zone Management Committees, which was held in Wuhan’s East Lake High-Tech Zone on Nov 8.

The participants also published a joint declaration on the implementation of innovation-driven development strategies of national high-tech zones.

The declaration focused on the zones’ aim to become pioneers of innovation-driven development, and included five goals: to promote integration of technology innovation and social and economic development, to continuously strengthen their independent innovation capability, to improve the talent development mechanisms, to create a good policy environment, and to expand international cooperation.

President Xi Jinping inspected Wuhan East Lake High-Tech Zone in July and Dalian High-Tech Zone in August and, on Sept 30, the ninth collective learning of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, concerning strategies to implement innovation-driven development, was held at Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park in Beijing. These events reflect the fact that China attaches great importance to the development of high-tech zones.

The joint conference, which was first held in 2002, provides an effective platform for the development of all the state high-tech zones, promoting cooperation initiatives focused on sharing experiences and communication.

Edited by Niva Whyman