Anhui province is taking the initiative to help bolster the Yangtze River Delta region's integrated development, with this year marking its fifth anniversary as a national strategy.

To promote the region's high-quality integration and unleash greater vitality for the Chinese path to modernization, senior officials, entrepreneurs and academics from Shanghai – as well as from East China's Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces – gathered in Anhui's capital of Hefei city on June 5-6.

The Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone, home to most of the high-tech businesses in Anhui, has become the core area due to its science and technology innovation initiatives.

A sweeping view of the Hefei National Quantum Laboratory in the Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone, or Hefei high-tech zone, in Hefei city. [Photo/WeChat ID: hefeigaoxinfabu]

The zone has established five systems for regional science and technology innovation.

It has focused on building an innovation supply chain – of basic research-technology, research-transformation of achievements and enterprise-industry cultivation – to help national science and technology at a high level.

Moreover, the Hefei high-tech zone has attracted three foreign investment projects worth about $320 million since the start of the year, with a total of 30 key foreign investment projects under negotiation, involving $1.58 billion.

Moving forwards, plans are in motion for the zone to hold fast to the two key concepts of "integration" and "high quality" to realize its premium development.