In the northwest of Hefei, the future Great Science City of Hefei is gradually turning from blueprint into reality.

The future Great Science City of Hefei is a major hub within the Hefei Binhu Science City, planned to cover about 19.2 square kilometers. Today, the energy released by these "national-level instruments" is quietly incubating one cutting‑edge technology company after another.

How can the entity-based reform of Hefei Binhu Science City be used as a lever to effectively leverage high-level innovation platforms, so that static scientific resources can be set in motion and made vibrant? Seizing the opportunity of the Binhu Science City’s entity-based reform, Hefei has pushed to translate original laboratory innovation into real-world applications and to accelerate the conversion of "scientific potential" into "industrial momentum."

"The core of the reform is to establish a system and mechanism that allow every link of the innovation chain to connect and operate efficiently," said a person in charge of Hefei Binhu Science City, explaining the reform’s original intention. Faced with common problems such as fragmented innovation elements and blocked conversion channels, the Hefei municipal party committee and government elevated the science city’s entity-based reform to the city’s top reform "Project No. 1." They tackled the problem through top-level design: forming a reform task force led by the main leaders of the municipal party committee and government, inviting academicians and experts to participate in evaluation, issuing an implementation plan for entity-based reform that covers management systems, division of powers and responsibilities, and resource allocation, and defining a "small administrative committee + large company" operating model to precisely couple administrative efficiency with market vitality.

Make original innovation the "life-giving source" that runs through the entire innovation chain. Guided by the entity-based reform of Binhu Science City, Hefei is working to achieve collaborative innovation among research institutes, universities, large scientific facilities and enterprises and capital, promoting the acceleration of original innovation from "0" to "1," and then to "N." As the fission of original innovation accelerates, a series of forward-looking, leading "Made in Hefei" major achievements have emerged one after another.

Rapidly converting original innovative results into practical applications is the reform’s goal. Relying on the Anhui Innovation Pavilion, Hefei Binhu Science City is actively building a seven-in-one technology transfer service system of "government, industry, academia, research, finance, services and users," creating a pioneering integrated model of exhibition, trading, and conversion, forming the Anhui Science and Technology Grand Market operations company, and accelerating the construction of an Anhui Science and Technology Grand Market that covers provincial, municipal and county levels and integrates online and offline channels.

"This is essentially a hub." At the Anhui Science and Technology Grand Market, a technology manager pointed to a screen showing real-time listings of technology results and enterprise needs, explaining that they are building bridges online to connect universities and companies.

As of the end of September this year, the Anhui Innovation Pavilion has hosted more than 710 technology transfer and trade events, sourced and aggregated over 24,000 domestic and international projects, listed and converted more than 3,900 technological achievements (including facilitating 386 teams to set up companies in Hefei), facilitated technology transfer transactions exceeding RMB 167 billion, trained nearly 4,000 certified technology managers, and displayed more than 2,500 Anhui independent-innovation achievements.

Continuously optimizing the innovation ecosystem provides fertile ground for technology conversion. Currently, Hefei Binhu Science City is accelerating the construction of a full-chain service system covering "basic research — technological breakthroughs — technology transfer — industry cultivation," making the flow of innovation elements smoother and resource allocation more efficient, paving the way for scientific results to move from the "laboratory" to the "production line."

“The entity-based reform of Binhu Science City further optimizes the combination of innovation elements and continuously forms a systemic, vibrant innovation ecosystem,” said a relevant official from Hefei’s Development and Reform Commission. The ‘chemical reaction’ gradually produced by the entity-based reform of Hefei Binhu Science City is generating increasing agglomeration, radiation, and linkage effects, helping Anhui pursue high-quality development."

Source: anhuinews.com