Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cluster units sights on world-class innovation, strategic position amid nation’s high-tech push for long-term development
Inside a satellite tv for pc meeting plant within the Xiong’an New Area in Hebei province, robotic arms carry out with exact, similar actions alongside a manufacturing line. One arm grips a satellite tv for pc element, lifts it into place, and snaps it onto a panel inching down the road.
This is the place Xiong’an No 1, the primary satellite tv for pc made within the new space, rolled off the manufacturing line final October, marking a milestone not simply in manufacturing however within the area’s capability for clever aerospace innovation.
For Xiong’an, it represented a leap from the idea stage to a tangible high-tech product, proof that town is rapidly establishing itself as a hub for cutting-edge aerospace growth.
Founded in January 2025, Land-Space HongQing (Xiong’an) Space Technology Co additionally achieved a uncommon industrial feat in China: registration, building, manufacturing, and satellite tv for pc rollout, all in the identical yr.
“The speed of this project is exceptionally fast by national standards,” stated Shi Yaozhong, the corporate’s normal supervisor.
The firm’s construction additionally exemplifies a sensible collaboration mannequin between Beijing and Xiong’an.
“Our headquarters is in Beijing, and Xiong’an is a subsidiary,” Shi defined. “Beijing handles management and R&D, while Xiong’an focuses on what we call ‘pilot production’.”
Pilot manufacturing occurs after a product is developed, however earlier than full-scale manufacturing. This stage is when engineers refine the manufacturing course of and take a look at applied sciences in real-world situations.
Shi stated the corporate selected Xiong’an as a base primarily as a result of the world is prioritizing the event of the satellite tv for pc web trade. Being primarily based there permits nearer collaboration with companions throughout the availability chain and a greater understanding of buyer wants.
“Those needs can be reflected immediately during the pilot-production stage, helping us continuously improve the product,” he stated.
Ni Yuefeng, Party secretary of Hebei and a deputy to the 14th National People’s Congress, stated Xiong’an is strengthening its innovation capability, with greater than 60 upstream and downstream corporations now clustering within the aerospace data and satellite tv for pc web sectors.
“High-end industries such as artificial intelligence and new materials are also being nurtured, and the city’s innovation atmosphere is becoming stronger while its popularity continues to grow,” he stated, in accordance with Xinhua News Agency.
Hebei is deepening coordinated innovation and industrial cooperation with Beijing and Tianjin whereas actively integrating into the Beijing (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei) International Center for Science and Technology Innovation.
Six industrial chains — together with robotics, new power, and clever linked automobiles — together with 5 clusters similar to life and well being, and security emergency gear, are gaining momentum throughout the province.
Beijing has been accelerating the switch of scientific and technological achievements throughout the area, in accordance with knowledge from the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform.
In 2025, the worth of know-how contracts flowing from Beijing to Tianjin and Hebei reached 99.61 billion yuan ($14.44 billion). During the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) interval, the cumulative worth exceeded 320 billion yuan, 1.7 instances that of the earlier five-year plan interval.
This yr marks the twelfth anniversary of the area’s coordinated growth technique. According to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform, the mixed GDP of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei reached practically 12 trillion yuan in 2025, up 5.4 % year-on-year, and 0.4 share factors larger than the nationwide common. The area has continued to point out robust momentum in additional innovation-driven and higher-quality development.
Science and know-how innovation has change into a central pillar of that transformation. In latest years, nationwide insurance policies have positioned higher emphasis on strengthening cross-regional innovation cooperation within the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area, with technological collaboration highlighted as a key driver of long-term, high-quality growth.
In the Government Work Report delivered on March 5 on the opening of the fourth session of the 14th National People’s Congress, China’s prime legislature, in Beijing, Premier Li Qiang reiterated China’s push to strengthen self-reliance in science and know-how and deepen the mixing of technological and industrial innovation.
The report additionally known as for growing Beijing and the broader Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area, alongside the Yangtze River Delta and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, into worldwide facilities for scientific and technological innovation and turning them into world-class engines of innovation.
The thought was first raised final December, when the Central Economic Work Conference proposed increasing the “Beijing International Center for Science and Technology Innovation” into the broader “Beijing (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei) International Center for Science and Technology Innovation”.
“This is a major adjustment of the national innovation system,” Yi Tong, director of the Beijing Academy of Science and Technology’s innovation and growth technique analysis institute and an NPC deputy, informed Beijing Daily. “Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei now forms one of three strategic hubs for national technological innovation.”
The expanded framework is predicted to maneuver past the sooner one-way mannequin of “Beijing research and Hebei application”, she stated. A extra resilient innovation triangle might be fostered, wherein Beijing focuses on elementary analysis, Tianjin helps know-how switch by means of its superior manufacturing base, and Hebei gives large-scale industrial software and validation eventualities, she stated.
“This marks a new stage for the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region,” Yi stated.
Tianjin is positioning itself as a key node on this regional innovation system.
Ming Dong, vice-president of Tianjin University and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the nation’s prime political advisory physique, informed Tianjin Daily that town will leverage its location and powerful tutorial sources to pay attention innovation elements, speed up know-how commercialization, and advance the industrialization of rising applied sciences similar to brain-computer interfaces and biomanufacturing.
Beyond nationwide coverage indicators, the push for deeper regional innovation cooperation can also be mirrored in a brand new spherical of top-level planning for the capital area.
In early February, China launched the spatial coordination plan for the fashionable capital metropolitan space (2023-35), the nation’s first metropolitan-area growth plan accredited by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, China’s Cabinet.
Xia Linmao, government vice-mayor of Beijing, stated at a information convention on Feb 12 that the capital metropolitan space will additional strengthen science and know-how collaboration in its core areas.
Efforts will give attention to growing new high quality productive forces alongside the Beijing-Tianjin and Beijing-Xiong’an corridors. The Beijing-Tianjin-Xiong’an innovation triangle can even be cultivated to bolster the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area’s position as a key driver of high-quality growth.
By 2030, the framework for an “innovation triangle” linking Beijing, Tianjin, and Xiong’an is predicted to take form. By 2050, the Beijing-Tianjin-Xiong’an area is envisioned to change into an vital space driving innovation-led financial development and main high-quality regional growth, in accordance with the plan.
The imaginative and prescient is already attracting high-tech enterprises looking for to scale up superior manufacturing and technological functions.
“We are very optimistic about Xiong’an’s strategic role in the capital metropolitan area,” stated Shi Yaozhong of LandSpace HongQing (Xiong’an) Space Technology Co.
“Our goal is to achieve breakthroughs in production models, technology integration, and management systems, enabling satellite manufacturing to shift from traditional single-unit production to intelligent mass production,” he stated. “Xiong’an will become an important base supporting China’s large-scale satellite constellation development.”
The Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform has additionally emphasised strengthening cross-regional innovation and industrial coordination, bettering the know-how commercialization system, and accelerating the event of the area’s robotics trade chain.
The initiative goals to boost the regional robotics ecosystem and promote industrial upgrades throughout the area.
A key step has been the launch of the Zhongguancun Robotics Innovation Center in Tangshan, Hebei. The heart bridges Beijing’s R&D capabilities with Tangshan’s industrial base and serves as a pilot platform for translating superior robotics applied sciences into sensible, domestically tailored options.
Tangshan was chosen for its strong industrial basis, strategic location inside the capital’s one-hour transport circle, and rising clusters of robotics-related enterprises. The heart enhances Beijing’s give attention to core R&D by appearing as a conversion and pilot hub.
“Our goal is to build a platform where Beijing’s research results can be adapted to Tangshan’s industrial reality, addressing real production challenges while promoting regional technology adoption and industrial upgrading,” stated Meng Yang, normal supervisor of the Tangshan heart.
A first-rate instance is Hebei Huatong Wires and Cables Group, a conventional cable producer dealing with high-intensity, high-risk manufacturing duties. Previously, employees needed to carry aluminum wire blocks weighing 20 to 30 kilograms whereas sporting 5-kg heat-resistant fits in 80 C furnaces.
Sweat soaked by means of in only a few minutes, and every day dealing with of those blocks hardly ever exceeded 4 hours as a result of excessive bodily pressure.
The Tangshan heart was designed with absolutely enclosed security chambers geared up with air-con and heat-insulating panels, permitting steady robotic operation for as much as eight hours with a failure charge under one %.
“Now, you just press a button, and the robot does the work!” Meng stated, including that this automation not solely removes employees from harmful situations and strengthens product high quality, it additionally dramatically will increase effectivity.
To help worldwide deployment, the system was tailored to fulfill abroad requirements. For the corporate’s manufacturing facility in South Korea, the middle added infrared warning techniques and emergency cease interlocks, efficiently passing native security certification.
“Every solution is customized for a specific production scenario, both domestically and internationally,” Meng stated, including that this highlights the middle’s position in bridging Beijing’s R&D capabilities with real-world industrial functions.
While progress throughout the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area is obvious, structural challenges stay.
Yi, from the Innovation and Development Strategy Research Institute, stated cross-regional incentives are nonetheless inadequate, the know-how commercialization chain is incomplete, and limitations to expertise and capital mobility stay.
To tackle these points, she really useful coverage measures similar to tax incentives to make sure stakeholders profit from undertaking implementation, and the institution of high-level pilot manufacturing and idea verification facilities in Hebei and Tianjin. She additionally really useful expanded entry to training, healthcare, and housing by means of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei expertise inexperienced card system to facilitate smoother motion of innovation sources.
Xiong’an has actively utilized a few of these methods.
The Xiong’an Future City Scenario Expo serves as a platform for incubating, demonstrating, and industrializing new applied sciences.
Wu Haijun, workplace director of the expo’s organizing committee, stated the newest expo focuses on 9 key sectors, with over 500 scenario-based calls for totaling 9.29 billion yuan in ready-to-implement initiatives. Many applied sciences fill home gaps and meet worldwide requirements.
An illustration of innovation through the expo is the Beidou Underground Space Navigation System, developed by Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. The system addresses the long-standing problem of Beidou indicators not reaching underground by integrating satellite tv for pc navigation with 5G indoor positioning to allow seamless monitoring in subways, underground parking spots, and tunnels.
“The past five years have been about bringing Beidou from the sky to people’s daily lives,” stated Lu Zhaoming, vice-president of the Xiong’an Aerospace Information Research Institute.
The platform’s Youxin-1 indoor-outdoor steady positioning module can monitor automobiles carrying hazardous supplies and help city security initiatives. In real-world environments, it’s being scaled to fulfill the calls for of high-speed rail stations, industrial developments, and different city eventualities.
“By testing technologies in actual settings, we can co-develop and industrialize solutions with universities, research institutes, and local governments,” Lu stated.
Xiong’an’s proximity to Beijing, mixed with robust tutorial help, authorities facilitation, and a citywide innovation ecosystem, makes it ideally suited for speedy know-how validation and industrialization, he stated.
Yang Cheng in Beijing contributed to this story.
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