A factory owned by Chinese carmaker Geely in Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/WeChat account: huzhoufabu]

Huzhou in East China's Zhejiang province was ranked 27th on the 2022 list of the top 100 advanced manufacturing cities in China, up two spots over the previous year, according to a recent report.

The report was compiled by CCID Consulting, a firm affiliated with a think tank under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The firm evaluated the advanced manufacturing sector of 293 prefecture-level cities nationwide from the perspectives of innovation capacity, integrated development, economic strength, and brand quality.

In 2021, industrial enterprises above designated size in the top 100 cities on the list generated nearly 19 trillion yuan ($2.71 trillion) in added value, accounting for more than 60 percent of the nation's total.

Huzhou has long been focused on the development of eight emerging sectors, including new energy vehicles, photoelectric communication, semiconductors, and biomedicine.

In the first 10 months of this year, the added value of the city's strategic emerging industries accounted for 39.6 percent of the total of above-designated-size industrial enterprises, official statistics show.

Huzhou has also been ranked sixth among 72 innovation-driven cities nationwide in terms of innovation driving force.

The proportion of R&D expenditure in the city’s GDP increased from 2.39 percent in 2015 to 3.12 percent in 2021, ranking third in Zhejiang.

Four local companies went public this year and brought the total number of listed companies in the city to 48.

Huzhou has also been focusing on industrial digitalization and green manufacturing. Official statistics show that the city is currently home to 48 green factories, five green industrial parks, 26 green supply chain management enterprises, and 78 green design products.