In recent years, Huizhou district has seized the opportunities for integration in the Yangtze River Delta region, and focused on accelerating new industrialization with an emphasis on ecological priorities. By adjusting the industrial structure and promoting economic transformation, the district has taken solid steps towards the integration of urban and rural development. The district has firmly established the concept of "green development for benefits" and emphasized the cooperation between industry and agriculture in order to improve people's livelihoods.

Over 200 new employees have been hired by PolyCore Advanced Material Co., Ltd. since it moved to the area in 2019, with most of them being local farmers. The company has responded positively to the government's call to employ local workers. These new employees earn salaries ranging from 4,800 yuan to over 6,000 yuan per month. The company has helped six poverty-stricken households become employed, providing the stability these households need, as well as a hopeful future.

To assist in the fight against poverty and promote development, Huizhou district has established a new model of industrial-agricultural integrated urban-rural development. With this model, the district has enabled 674 poverty-stricken households to increase their income by providing benefits through a mechanism that links companies, cooperatives, and the poor. The district has also provided stable employment and income to these households. Over 20,000 people are currently engaged in industrial production, and the registered urban unemployment rate is controlled at less than 2.7%.

Huizhou Huangshan Huahui Technology Co., Ltd, located in the circular economy park, began planning and constructing technological upgrades in 2019, and will complete equipment installation and begin production at the end of September this year. The investment for the expansion was around 210 million yuan, which will generate sales revenue of 400 million yuan. Meanwhile, its energy usage and material consumption will be reduced by approximately 15% -25%. The company has invested more than 40 million yuan in deep treatment of industrial wastewater and tail gas emissions since 2017, and became the first to build a sewage treatment plant with a daily processing capacity of 400 tons. The treated wastewater and tail gas have achieved the third-class water quality standard and tail pipe emission standard, respectively. In 2018, Huangshan Huahui was awarded the provincial-level "Green Factory" certification, and is now applying for national-level certification.

Green development is the only way to push the new industrialization forward. Huizhou district has strictly adhered to its environmental protection guidelines and prevented pollution and ecological damage from the source by using the "green barometer". It has vetoed "two high and one low" types of projects that do not conform to industrial policies, with a total investment of 6.276 billion yuan and an output value of 15 billion yuan. Five major improvement projects have been implemented to continuously improve the "three centralizations" of industrial parks, including concentrated pollution control, centralized heating, and concentrated desalination. A total of 61 polluting and inefficient enterprises have been cleared, releasing land with an area of over 1,750 mu. The district has remained committed to promoting the simultaneous optimization of industrial quality and environmental indices, with a per-mu tax revenue of 68,100 yuan in 2019.

Upgrading industries to mid-to-high-end levels is the way forward for new industrialization. Huizhou district has established a 5.86 square kilometer park for enterprises, providing special policies to support technology and innovation initiatives. The district has also encouraged enterprises to innovate their production organization, technology, and marketing, focusing on improving their internal qualities and enhancing innovation vitality. Anhui Xinuo Precision Machinery Co., Ltd is a high-tech company that is also a provincial enterprise technology center, a research center for CNC milling machines in Anhui Province, and a research center for high-speed precision CNC milling machines in Anhui Province. The company has been committed to cooperation between industry, academia, and research since its inception, and has successfully researched key technical problems related to CNC machine tools.

The company has cooperated with Shenyang University of Technology, Hefei University of Technology, and Anhui University on multiple manufacturing projects. In 2017, it successfully applied for the provincial science and technology major project in cooperation with Shenyang University of Technology, which was completed at the end of 2018. In recent years, the company has achieved five independent intellectual property rights and one invention patent, as well as three new products that have received Anhui Province Science and Technology Achievement certificates. Xinuo Precision Machinery is now one of the vanguard companies in Huizhou district's innovative development.

Innovation is the lifeblood of enterprise sustainable development. Huizhou district has vigorously implemented the "three quality improvements" and "three-to-one increase" campaigns, continuously implemented the "four new" technological reforms, and implemented 408 technological reform projects with a total investment of nearly 10 billion yuan since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. By deploying innovation chains based on industrial chains, the district has used talent as its first resource to guide companies to engage in cooperative projects with higher education institutions such as the University of Science and Technology of China, Zhejiang University, Hefei University of Technology, and Huangshan College. Seventy-five cooperative projects have been conducted, resulting in 18 new provincial-level products and four industrial-quality products being transformed into achievement certificates for science and technology innovations; ten provincial engineering technology research centers, twelve corporate technology centers, and one provincial engineering research center have been established, while 43 high-tech enterprises, 28 high-tech enterprises, and 19 small and medium-sized science and technology companies have been trained.

According to Li Zhongshu, Deputy Director of the Huizhou District Reform Office, in the future, the district will continue to stimulate reform and innovation initiatives, identify breakthroughs and focus areas for industrial upgrading, accelerate the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, vigorously cultivate strategic emerging industries, promote the rapid development of manufacturing towards digitalization, networking, and intelligence, and drive regional economic and social development with high-level emerging industrial clusters.