Results of Changsha's growth into a global R&D hub

Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology, based in Changsha, is on the 2025 World Top 50 Construction Machinery Manufacturers list released by the organizing committee of T50 Summit of World Construction Machinery Industry and the magazine China Construction Machinery.

Sany Group is another giant of engineering machinery based in Changsha.

The scenery along Xiangjiang River in Changsha.

Changsha city in Central China's Hunan province has made great strides in developing into a global research and development center since the goal was set in June 2023.

The city ranked 23rd among the leading 200 science cities released by Nature Index recently. It was the 44th largest innovation cluster, according to the Global Innovation Index 2025 released by the World Intellectual Property Organization. Meanwhile, it secured ninth place in the 2025 China's top 100 cities ranking for innovation capacity, solidifying its status as a rising innovation pioneer.

A driving force behind the growth is large innovation R&D platforms, which play a central role in advancing the city toward a global R&D hub, local officials said. Changsha has secured the approval to build China's first national technology innovation center in the mineral resources field. The provincial technological innovation initiative — four major laboratories and four major scientific facilities — has gathered more than 4,100 professionals in Changsha and achieved more than 100 major research results.

Among them, the Xiangjiang Laboratory, founded in 2022, has obtained more than 211 national invention patents and developed 26 innovative results in fields such as artificial intelligence large models, embodied intelligent robots and brain-inspired intelligence.

Many leading Chinese companies, including Huawei, have launched R&D facilities in the city, which set up a HarmonyOS ecosystem innovation center.

New innovation landmarks such as Songya Lake Future Sci-tech City, Malanshan Audio&Video Laboratory and Kaifu Scientific Innovation Valley are stepping up efforts to attract projects and investment, which will inject new impetus to the city's technological prowess and high-quality development.

Changsha boasts six manufacturing industry clusters with an output value of more than 100 billion yuan ($14.13 billion), covering engineering machinery, new materials and electronic information. Five of the world's top 50 construction machinery companies — Sany Heavy Industry, Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology, Sunward Intelligent Equipment Group, China Railway Construction Heavy Industry and Sinoboom — are headquartered in the city. Changsha's construction machinery industry scale has ranked first in the country for 15 consecutive years, with the variety of its engineering machinery products accounting for about 85 percent of China's total.

Based on sci-tech innovation, Changsha is advancing the development of a modern industrial system, promoting industrial clusters' upgrading and structural optimization, and accelerating the shift in growth drivers. Its manufacturing sector is demonstrating a clear trend toward intelligent, green and integrated transformation.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), 11 factories from Changsha were recognized as excellence-level smart factories by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology; Zoomlion was named on the 2025 pioneering-level smart factory cultivation list, making it one of 15 nationwide and the sole representative from its province; and the city cultivated over 720 intelligent manufacturing pilot enterprises, with the total number up to 1,767, as well as 13 companies which are selected as candidates through the open competition mechanism to build national-level demonstration factories and 38 excellent scenarios.

To date, 456 small and medium-sized enterprises have passed assessments for their digital transformation pilot programs. Hunan Wuxin Tunnel Intelligent Equipment has cut its development cycle by 40 percent through three-dimensional simulation and virtual debugging, while Changsha Xinlin Pharmaceutical upgraded its intelligent production control system, saving nearly 90,000 yuan in energy costs each month.

Officials from the Changsha industry and information technology bureau said that the city not only emphasizes the effectiveness of every enterprise's digital transformation, but integrates the efforts of government, businesses, research institutions and other stakeholders to promote digital transformation.

So far, the city has built 98 national green factories and eight national green industrial parks, demonstrating its determination to sustainable development.

An industrial internet platform system has been established in the city based on 56 provincial platforms, connecting more than 3 million industrial facilities and benefiting over 100,000 enterprises.

Changsha has also seen remarkable progress in emerging industries and future industries. From January to August 2025, the city's vehicle output exceeded 600,000 units, 80 percent of which were new energy vehicles. In November 2025, the Hunan Embodied Intelligence Innovation Center started operations in the city.

With a global vision, Changsha is committed to expanding opening-up and integrating into the international innovation network. The city has released a batch of favorable policies to attract overseas R&D projects and encourage local high-tech companies to expand operations abroad.

Hunan Iron and Steel Group has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Luxembourg-based steel titan ArcelorMittal to establish a global automotive steel R&D center in the province.

With an investment of 200 million yuan, German company Kleiberit has launched its Asia-Pacific R&D center and hot-melt adhesive manufacturing base in Ningxiang, a county-level city under the administration of Changsha.

More products made in Changsha have entered international markets. On New Year's Eve, fireworks from Liuyang, a county-level city under the administration of Changsha, became top sellers in German supermarkets. Sanitation equipment of Infore Environmental Technology Group, which has established one of its three industrial centers in Changsha, has been exported to more than 60 countries and regions, spanning Europe, Southeast Asia, America and Africa. More than 230,000 units of equipment are operating stably globally.

Additionally, local authorities have set up an international advisory committee for the global R&D center initiative and maintained scientific and technological exchanges with over 40 countries and regions. Numerous high-profile academic events are held in Changsha regularly including the Internet Yuelu Summit and the World Computing Conference.

During the 2025 WCC held in November, the top 10 computing innovation achievements in that year were released, along with a forecast of the 10 major trends set to shape the computing sector in 2026.

Since the event was founded in 2019, it has witnessed project agreements worth 78 billion yuan signed, giving a boost to Changsha's computing industry.