The youngest national-level new area has been "upgraded" again.

On April 1st, Xiongan New Area is about to mark the 9th anniversary of its establishment.

"What changes have taken place in Xiongan New Area?" This is the question most frequently asked by the outside world in the past nine years. As the youngest national-level new area in China, Xiongan New Area, whether it's the "halo" of being a "project of the millennium and a national priority", the opportunity to undertake the relief of non-capital functions from Beijing, or the various new concepts and new paths in the process of starting from a "blank slate", high-standard planning, and high-start construction, all these factors have captured people's attention.

Not long ago, the General Secretary visited Xiongan New Area for the 4th time in nine years, once again drawing the outside world's attention to the changes in this new area. Many people noticed that the signals indicating that the new area has entered a new stage of development are particularly strong. At the symposium held on the day of the visit, while emphasizing that "Xiongan New Area was born to relieve Beijing of its non-capital functions", it was also highlighted that "promoting the in-depth integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation and developing new-quality productivity according to local conditions" should be given emphasis.

The change in the name of the symposium also reflects this. From the "Symposium on Promoting the Construction of Xiongan New Area with High Standards and High Quality" in 2023 to the "Symposium on Deeply Promoting the High-quality Construction and Development of Xiongan New Area" this year, "Promoting" has been replaced by "Deeply Promoting", and "Development" has been added after "Construction".

This future city, built with a "millennium" as the yardstick, is marking its next coordinate.

Liang Zhihao, the deputy director of the Bureau of Industry, Information Technology, Science and Technology Data of Xiongan New Area, told Urban Evolution that since its birth, Xiongan New Area has been entrusted with the important task of innovation and reform. Entering the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Xiongan will enter a crucial stage where it can truly play a leading role in reform and innovation, and reform and innovation will become the driving force for Xiongan's development.

01

Upgrade

From multiple perspectives, Xiongan New Area is entering a new stage in the field of innovation breakthrough.

In February this year, the High-tech Zone of Xiongan New Area was upgraded to a national-level high-tech zone, becoming the 179th national-level high-tech zone in China and the 8th in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Since its establishment and operation in 2024, the High-tech Zone of Xiongan New Area has been promoting the application for national-level status, and finally achieved its goal.

Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park in Xiongan New Area. Photo source: Xinhua News Agency

The High-tech Zone can be regarded as the innovation business card of Xiongan New Area. Not only is the Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park located here, but it also brings together various innovation platforms such as science and technology innovation centers, pilot test bases, software innovation blocks, and business service centers. In the more than one year up to the end of last year, a total of 921 enterprises settled here, including 52 high-tech enterprises, more than 80 secondary and tertiary subsidiaries and branches of central enterprises, and 98 large-scale enterprises.

Regarding this "upgrade", Wang Hui, an associate professor at the School of Urban Economics and Public Administration of Capital University of Economics and Business, pointed out in an interview that in the early days, the division of labor in scientific and technological innovation in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region was often that Beijing carried out innovation and then transferred it to Hebei and Tianjin. The future direction is to extend the technological innovation highland of the entire Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region from Beijing to Xiongan.

A clearer innovation positioning is reflected in the previously approved "Spatial Coordination Plan for the Modern Capital Metropolitan Area (2023 - 2035)". As the first metropolitan area plan approved by the Party Central Committee and the State Council in China, its significance is evident.

In addition to being listed as the "two wings" of the capital's development along with the Sub - center of Beijing, Xiongan is also placed in a new regional innovation framework: the Beijing-Xiongan Corridor and the Beijing-Tianjin Corridor are the "two corridors" of the metropolitan area, which will develop new-quality productivity and strengthen the strategic innovation source function; in the "Innovation Triangle in the Beijing-Tianjin-Xiongan Region", "the coordinated development of Xiongan and the central urban area of Baoding" is positioned as a strategic fulcrum.

Spatial structure planning map of the Capital Metropolitan Area. Photo source: "Spatial Coordination Plan for the Modern Capital Metropolitan Area (2023 - 2035)"

Facing the superposition of favorable factors, Xiongan intends to take a further step. During the National Two Sessions this year, Zhang Guohua, a deputy to the National People's Congress, the secretary of the Party Working Committee and the director of the Administrative Committee of Xiongan New Area, mentioned that the theme of Xiongan New Area's work this year is to "enhance the energy level". He also specifically pointed out in an interview that while Xiongan "places the development of new-quality productivity according to local conditions in a more prominent strategic position", it will "do a good job in the two articles of 'high' and 'new'".

In a sense, this also means that after nine years of "laying the framework", Xiongan has gradually entered the stage of "filling in the content", which includes the construction of a modern industrial system and the entry of more innovation elements such as enterprise entities.

As Liang Zhihao said, it is also time for Xiongan to pick up the pen and answer the question of the in-depth integration of industrial innovation and scientific and technological innovation.

02

Industry

Looking back at Xiongan's early exploration of nurturing industries "from scratch", the "relief of non-capital functions from Beijing" is the key starting point.

In October last year, "Xiongan No. 1" was produced and launched, marking another milestone in the aerospace information industry in Xiongan New Area. It will not only become the first satellite "made in Xiongan", but the simultaneously established satellite intelligent manufacturing pilot test base also fills the gap in Xiongan in satellite pilot test verification and mass production.

As the manufacturer, LanJian HongQing (Xiongan) Space Technology Co., Ltd. is from Beijing. Regarding the choice of Xiongan, its relevant person in charge once introduced that in addition to the financial support and various services provided by Xiongan, China Satellite Network Group Co., Ltd., the leading enterprise in the industry, had settled in Xiongan earlier. As one of its suppliers, LanJian HongQing will be able to cooperate closely with users nearby.

The headquarters of China Satellite Network Group Co., Ltd. in Xiongan New Area. Photo source: Xinhua News Agency

Going back to April 2021, China Satellite Network Group Co., Ltd. was registered and settled in Xiongan New Area, becoming the first central enterprise to be registered and settled in Xiongan New Area. In the following nearly five years, an entire industrial chain has gathered here. By the end of last year, a total of 62 enterprises and 7 innovation platforms in the aerospace information field had gathered in Xiongan. The China Aerospace Information and Satellite Internet Innovation Alliance was registered and established in Xiongan, and the first relatively complete innovation main chain emerged in Xiongan.

Based on this, Xiongan takes the aerospace information and satellite Internet industry as one of the three leading industries, and the other two leading industries are artificial intelligence and new materials industries. In addition, Xiongan also promotes the development of three advantageous industries: energy, digital technology, and financial technology. Behind the industrial system, the 8 central enterprises with their headquarters in Xiongan and more than 400 central enterprises that have set up relevant institutions have undoubtedly played an important role.

Since its birth, Xiongan has carried the strategic mission of being a concentrated bearing area for the relief of non-capital functions from Beijing, exploring a new model for the optimized development of densely populated and economically developed areas, and adjusting and optimizing the urban layout and spatial structure of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, aiming to solve the problem of "Beijing has more than it can handle, Tianjin doesn't have enough to do, and Hebei can't get a share". As innovation elements start to flow and gradually form chains and networks, the function of Xiongan as a node is also gradually emerging.

For example, in the specific links of the innovation chain, Xiongan can further explore its specific positioning in regional cooperation. In January this year, "Xiongan No. 1" was sent to Beijing for a thermal vacuum test to verify its tolerance in extreme temperature environments. Its relevant person in charge pointed out that this was its second trip to Beijing. According to the convention, a satellite will undergo thousands of tests before launch.

In the digital economy field, which also has prominent advantages, Xiongan has seized the development opportunities in niche tracks.

Smart city is another business card of Xiongan. However, different from most smart cities, Xiongan took the lead in China in realizing the synchronous planning and construction of the digital city and the real city. Based on this "latecomer advantage", as Liang Zhihao said, Xiongan was able to firmly choose the path of full - scale independent innovation at the beginning of smart city construction. Thus, Xiongan has extended several unique independent innovation industrial tracks, including full - scale Hongmeng, full - scale IPv6, and full - scale RISC - V (open - source reduced instruction set architecture).

Although the current scale is not large, the broad development prospects are the reason why Xiongan values the independent innovation track. As Liang Zhihao said, the key to the development of independent innovation is to provide scenarios and platforms, so that the more it is used, the better it will be. Correspondingly, Xiongan's various construction needs can open up test platforms for digital enterprises, which will be an important boost for their growth and development.

03

Scenario

In a sense, the smart city is also the greatest imagination space for Xiongan's industrial development.

The digital city was written into Xiongan's genes early on. In 2018, the "Hebei Xiongan New Area Planning Outline" included "building a globally leading digital city with deep learning ability" in its development goals. Entering the construction stage, Xiongan more creatively promoted the construction of a physical city above the ground, an underground city, and a digital city in the cloud simultaneously. Among them, the virtual "city" in the cloud is the digital twin city.

It is said that in Xiongan, every building, every road, and every corridor has its own "digital ID". As the digital foundation is continuously taking shape, as Liang Zhihao said, Xiongan's smart city construction is shifting from infrastructure construction to application implementation. One of the keys lies in building the city into an open test field for scenarios.

Xiongan Urban Computing Center. Photo source: Xinhua News Agency

Looking across the country, scenario innovation has become an important means for cities to promote industrial innovation. Facing the oncoming new round of scientific and technological revolution, promoting the transformation of scientific and technological innovation into industrial innovation through the opening of various scenarios will be the key for cities to seize the future in advance.

Compared with other cities that lack test spaces and have higher test difficulties and complexities, as a "new city", Xiongan can bring relatively complete innovation scenarios in the process of promoting construction area by area. A scenario can contain a large number of specific details. After full opening, it is expected to bring more "first - trials" of new technologies and new products.

Based on this, Xiongan is further amplifying its scenario advantages. In 2023, the Hebei Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government, in combination with Xiongan's future development needs, decided to build the "Future City Scenario Expo" in Xiongan, and held the first event the following year. By this year, it has been held for three sessions to promote the accelerated transformation and application implementation of scientific and technological innovation achievements. Many of these scenarios are closely related to smart city construction.

According to Liang Zhihao, Xiongan sorts out the needs in the process of smart city construction every year, releases demand lists, and provides test platforms for enterprises' new technologies and new products through forms such as open tendering and pilot demonstrations to promote the precise matching of the needs of both parties. This kind of docking can sometimes be specific to each device and each link, aiming to enable new technologies to truly empower urban development and at the same time promote the promotion of enterprises' new technologies and new products.

An example is the low - altitude economy. Currently, Xiongan has opened more than 50 low - altitude economy scenarios, including construction site, road, and municipal inspection, patrol, and maintenance. Xiongan has a relatively low skyline, which is just suitable for the test and operation of low - altitude inspections.

The innovation scenarios also occur in Xiongan's vast "underground city". Liang Zhihao gave an example. When enterprises are conducting underground space inspection operations, robots cannot cross ground obstacles or enter the next area due to the small connecting passages. To solve this problem, a drone R & D enterprise proposed an inspection plan using drones instead of robots. At the same time, to avoid the problem of the drone being unable to fly due to collisions in a small space, a spherical protective cover was put on the drone.

Thus, each field can become a test field for a technology. Transformed into a "city - level scenario", Xiongan will further become the source of innovation, driving the urban industrial development and truly playing the role of a leader and a breakthrough for emerging technologies.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Urban Evolution", author: Yang Qifei. Republished with authorization from 36Kr.