Yangquan city in North China's Shanxi province has been promoting scientific and technological innovation and cultivating a new momentum for its local economic transformation and development in recent years, according to local officials.

They said that independent innovation has become the focus for the growth of both major and micro and small-sized enterprises in the city.  

As a leader in Yangquan of the ceramsite industry, Yangquan Changqing Petroleum Fracturing Proppant Co attaches great importance to technological innovation. 

The company has obtained seven national patents for innovations, which contributed to year-on-year growth of 484 percent in the company's foreign trade value in the first two months this year despite the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Yangquan Yushengyuan Agricultural Products Development Co, a small company in the city, combines the ancient traditional vinegar brewing process with modern advanced production equipment, with its production process having obtained a national invention patent.

Officials said the city has also offered long-term targeted and personalized services to local companies to advance their innovations. 

Local city and county-level government departments of science and technology have selected a batch of key scientific projects. They has been conducting tracking services on these projects throughout the project research and development, pilot scale experiments and production stages -- so that they can help solve difficulties companies encounter with the transfer and commercialization of technological achievements.

For example, Yangquan Changtaizhisheng Technology Co with annual output value of over 10 million yuan ($1.41 million) in Yangquan High-tech Entrepreneurship Park, once lacked patent awareness and even knew little about the patent application process. 

But it had six software copyrights get national patent certification in 2017 and was recognized as one of Shanxi Provincial High-tech Companies of 2018, with the assistance of the park and local government departments of science and technology, as well as market supervision.

To facilitate the commercialization of technological achievements and the implementation of patented technology, Yangquan has also issued a series of policies and measures. 

Officials said that certain bonuses are given to counties, enterprises, and patentees with outstanding patent work achievements and support projects during their patent applications. Meantime, the city has established a variety of channels to support a funding guarantee mechanism for commercializing technological achievements. 

The combination of these moves has greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of local enterprises in scientific R&D and the application of technological achievements.

According to the Yangquan market supervision bureau, there are 229 effective invention patents in the city and the number of effective invention patents per 10,000 people has reached 1.6, with the commercialization rate for effective invention patents now exceeding 80 percent.