Scientists at Revotek, a Chengdu-headquartered biotech company, perform an animal experiment, using a 3-D printed vein transplant. Photos Provided to China Daily

The Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone, a major growth engine for the Southwest China city, is building up an internationally influential modern industrial system to support local urban development.

According to statistics from the zone's administration, the local economy grew 9 percent in the first half of this year, with the value of its industrial output reaching 146.46 billion yuan ($22.36 billion).

At a meeting in July, the local authorities announced the aim to bring more than 100 projects to the zone, with at least one 10 billion yuan mega industrial project attracted each quarter.

Officials at the zone said they will continue to focus on a number of key sectors, including biomedicines, information technology, equipment manufacturing and financing.

Biomedicine

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Medtronic Innovation Center was held on Oct 10, marking the global medical equipment giant's third project in the Chengdu high-tech zone.

The company, headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, was the first Fortune Global 500 company in the medical equipment industry to open an office in the zone. It launched its first project in 2014 and the second in 2016.

CEO Omar Ishrak said Medtronic hopes local doctors will master cutting-edge medical technologies to serve their patients more proficiently.

Chris Lee, president of Greater China at Medtronic, said the company attaches great importance to China's medical market, which is full of opportunities. He said the new innovation center will bring more resources to China's central and western regions to improve local medical businesses.

Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, has listed the bioindustry as a key emerging sector of strategic importance. It is building an industrial chain focusing on biomedicines.

The Tianfu International Bio-town, developed by the high-tech zone and the Shuangliu district government, has attracted more than 70 projects since its establishment in March 2016. Together, they drew in total contracted investments exceeding 90 billion yuan. The projects include three teams led by Nobel Prize winners and two led by academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

In May, 11 projects in the bio-town started construction, representing a combined investment of 11.5 billion yuan.

The biomedicine industry in the Chengdu high-tech zone generated an output value of nearly 8 billion yuan in the first half of this year, growing 27.2 percent year-on-year. The growth rate of the whole year is expected to hit 15 percent or higher.

The administration of the high-tech zone decided to launch a 10 billion yuan foundation to support the bioindustry, according to a report it unveiled in July.

IT sector

The IT sector is also making an increasing contribution to Chengdu's economy. In the first seven months of this year, the sector generated an output value of more than 130 billion yuan, up 20.6 percent year-on-year.

The robust growth of the sector started in 2003, when the world's top chipmaker Intel announced it would build a plant in the Chengdu high-tech zone for packaging and testing chips. The plant became operational in 2005 and the revenue of the city's industry topped 50 billion yuan for the first time that year.

In the following decade, the industry's annual growth rate remained above 20 percent, with many leading domestic and international IT companies attracted to Chengdu, including BOE, Foxconn, Dell, Lenovo and Texas Instruments.

United States semiconductor manufacturer Global-Foundries invested about $10 billion in the zone in February to produce 12-inch semiconductor wafers, which are key components in electronic devices.