Chongqing - The enterprises above a designated size of Chongqing Liangjiang New Area have recorded a 29.6% year-on-year increase in research and development expenditure from January to April, reaching 4.002 billion yuan (about 562 million U.S. dollars). This investment is driving the transformation and upgrading of enterprises in the region.

Changan Automobile Global R&D Center. (Photo/Changan Automobile)

Changan Automobile, the leading car manufacturer in Chongqing, was the only enterprise from the city that made it to the National Science and Technology Innovation Top 100 Index Report 2023. 

The company’s research and development expenditure rose 41.67% year-on-year to 1.362 billion yuan (about 191 million U.S. dollars) in the first quarter. This has enabled the company to maintain robust, high-quality development and swiftly launch many new models, including the Deepal S7.

The Deepal S7, manufactured at its smart factory in Nanjing, is equipped with an L2-level Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) capable of numerous self-developed functions, such as blind-spot monitors, remote parking, APA 7.0 valet parking, and more. The model attracts excellent attention from the market and has significantly surpassed its reservation expectations.

Changan Automobile plans to launch 27 new energy cars by 2025, aiming for a sales target of 1.2 million units. It is also targeting to reach an annual capacity of 700,000 battery systems by 2025.

Peg-Bio Biopharm Co., Ltd., a biomedical enterprise in Liangjiang New Area, is also progressing in technical research and development. The company’s self-developed new class, one therapeutic biologic drug for treating childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia-pegylated recombinant L-asparaginase injection, was officially approved for clinical trials.

Compared with the previous generations of drugs, the new biologic has lower immunogenicity and a longer half-life, reducing the risk of drug clearance and adverse reactions in patients. Peg-Bio has also developed core technologies with independent intellectual property rights, namely the MAS-PEG and TE-PEP platforms, at the top level worldwide.

According to Xiang Yuewen, the director of Liangjiang Technology Innovation Bureau, through the implementation of “science and innovation + industry,” Liangjiang New Area is supporting the deep integration of the innovation chain, industry chain, capital chain, and talent chain in the region, promoting the growth of high-tech enterprises and innovation.

Liangjiang New Area ranks first in Chongqing as it's home to 788 high-tech enterprises, and 261 municipal enterprises and 38 national ones that use special and sophisticated technologies to produce novel and unique products.