The Liyang High-Tech Zone in Jiangsu Province (also known as the Jiangsu Zhongguancun High-Tech Industrial Development Zone) is located west of downtown Liyang and covers a planned area of 118.08 square kilometers. In January 2012, Zhongguancun and the Changzhou Municipal Government signed an agreement to establish the Jiangsu Zhongguancun Science and Technology Industrial Park, marking Zhongguancun’s first science and technology industrial park established outside of Beijing.In 2015, it was incorporated into the Southern Jiangsu National Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone. In May 2016, the park was approved to begin preparations for establishing a provincial-level high-tech zone, with a core area of 4.97 square kilometers. In September 2018, it was officially approved by the provincial government as a provincial-level high-tech industrial development zone.It has successively been recognized as a National Green Park, a Jiangsu Provincial Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation Demonstration Base, an Outstanding Science and Technology Park in the Southern Jiangsu National Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone, a Jiangsu Provincial Specialized and Demonstration Industrial Base for High-End Equipment Manufacturing, a Jiangsu Provincial Intellectual Property Demonstration Park, a Jiangsu Provincial Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation Demonstration Base, a Jiangsu Provincial Energy Storage Industry Mass Entrepreneurship Community, a Jiangsu Provincial Industry-University-Research Collaborative Innovation Base for the Energy Storage Industry, and a Third Batch of Provincial Specialized Towns (Liyang Lithium Enjoy Town), as well as a National New Industrialization Industrial Demonstration Base.In 2018, 2019, and 2020, the park ranked first among provincial-level high-tech zones in Jiangsu Province in the comprehensive evaluation for three consecutive years. In 2021, it was successfully designated by the Ministry of Science and Technology as a pilot for upgrading county-level provincial high-tech zones to national-level status. In 2021, the park achieved a total industrial output value of 112.5 billion yuan for enterprises above designated size, representing a year-on-year increase of 35.6%; public fiscal budget revenue reached 3.08 billion yuan, up 32.4% year-on-year;and industrial equipment investment reached 4.2 billion yuan.

The park has consistently adhered to a development philosophy centered on high-end, specialized, and cluster-based approaches. It has now established four pillar industries, notably two nationally renowned specialty sectors: new energy power batteries and power transmission and transformation. Led by enterprises such as Shangshang Cable, Huapeng Transformer, and Ankao Smart Power, the power transmission and transformation industry has rapidly enhanced its core competitiveness through innovation-driven development. With an industrial scale nearing 39 billion yuan, it has become a nationally renowned manufacturing base for power transmission and transformation equipment.Focusing on the development of strategic emerging industries, the park has formed a full-chain battery industry ecosystem led by CATL and SAIC Group, attracting over 60 well-known domestic battery projects such as Putailai, Beixing New Materials, Kedali, and Zichen.With a total investment exceeding 90 billion yuan, the projects cover the entire industrial chain—including anode and cathode materials, battery separators, electrolytes, battery cells, battery packs, structural components, smart lithium-ion battery equipment, and battery recycling. This has formed a cluster of power battery enterprises with strong international competitiveness. In 2017, it was named the “Lithium Battery Industry Cluster with the Best Investment Environment,”With an output value of nearly 43 billion yuan in 2021, the park’s power battery industry is projected to exceed 100 billion yuan in annual output value by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period. The high-end equipment manufacturing sector, led by companies such as Zhengchang Group, Bühler Machinery, and Jinwei Machinery, and the automotive and parts industry, spearheaded by SAIC Maxus, Kehua Holdings, and CETC 28th Research Institute, also possess strong industrial competitiveness.

In terms of high-end innovation platforms, the park has attracted and established several major research platforms, including the Yangtze River Delta Physics Research Center, the Tianmu Lake Advanced Energy Storage Technology Research Institute, the Electric Vehicle Joint Innovation Center, the Southeast University Liyang Research Institute, the Chongqing University Smart City Research Institute, and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Intelligent Manufacturing Research Institute. It has also recruited 13 academicians, including Chen Liquan, Xie Sishen, Yang Guozhen, and Yang Deren, as well as a large number of top-tier industry researchers such as Professors Li Hong, Wu Fan, Hu Yongsheng,Chen Jiangping, and Zhao Jianfeng, and has been approved to establish a national-level postdoctoral research station. The park is forging ahead toward the goal of “becoming a national high-tech zone and advancing toward a science and technology city.”