Zhejiang aims to develop the high-tech industrial area around Hangzhou Bay into a globally influential hub for innovation and entrepreneurship, according to an ambitious plan recently released by the provincial technology authority. [Photo/zj.zjol.com.cn]

Zhejiang aims to develop the high-tech industrial area around Hangzhou Bay into a globally influential hub for innovation and entrepreneurship, according to an ambitious plan recently released by the provincial technology authority.

The high-tech industrial area includes Hangzhou, Ningbo, Jiaxing, Huzhou, Shaoxing, and Zhoushan, and will focus on developing the digital economy.

The ambitious plan is a continuation of the original 2003 plan to develop the industrial area around Hangzhou Bay.

In 2018, the gross regional domestic product of the area around Hangzhou Bay was 3.8 trillion yuan ($554 billion), accounting for 69 percent of the province's total output, and 77 companies in the area were listed among China's top 500 private companies, accounting for 83 percent of the total in the province.

Statistics showed that the number of national and provincial high-tech industrial zones in the area around Hangzhou Bay in 2018 accounted for 89 percent of all such industrial zones in the province. 

Zhejiang aims to develop the high-tech industrial area around Hangzhou Bay into an area with world-class digital economy industrial innovation centers and an advanced manufacturing industry.