Tianjin, a veteran industry hub, has been accelerating the transformation of economic development pattern, by accounting on its strong points and advanced technologies, integrated industries, regional cooperation and coordinated development. It focuses on constructing a high-end-, high-quality- and high-technology-oriented industry structure, and accelerates the process of shifting its industry chain from mid-and low-end towards high-end with products “made in Tianjin” upgrading to “created in Tianjin”. The Municipality is to nurture a number of newly emerging industries, accelerating industrial agglomeration and achieving a sustainable development.

Tianjin’s industry structure has kept optimizing consistently with a higher degree of industrial agglomeration. A bunch of competitive pillar industries and major enterprise groups met their blossoming season. In 2008, eight major competitive industries, including aerospace and aviation, electronic information, equipment manufacturing, petrochemicals, bio-technology and modern medicine, light industry and textile, national defense technology and new energy and new material, achieved an industry value totaling 1056.1 billion yuan, which accounted for 87.1 percent of the value created by large-scale industries of the Municipality. The output value of Tianjin’s high and new technology industry totaled at 344.44 billion yuan in 2008, accounting for 28.4 percent of the city’s industrial output. Tianjin is one of the six national comprehensive high and new technology industrial bases, which are under construction. For the first half of 2009, large-scale industries of the Municipality generated an added value as large as 168.373 billion yuan, up 21.1 percent year-on-year.

Tianjin’s industrial structure has been further optimized, with the structure of three coordinated industrial layers taking shape. Tianjin is accelerating the construction of the congregation zone of electronic information industry, car-manufacturing industry, metallurgy, aerospace and aviation industry, equipment-manufacturing industry within the Binhai New Area. Tianjin is also making full use of the industrial resources in central urban areas, and exerts more effort in constructing 27 technological, original and urban industrial areas (buildings) such as Seagull Watch and Tongguang Technology through industrial integration and intensive development. The Municipality takes resource advantages of its districts and counties. There are a number of leading industrial bases including the micro-electronics industry in Xiqing District and white goods industry in Beichen District. There are also highly-specialized industry bases such as fashion industry in Baodi District and bicycle-manufacturing industry in Wuqing District. These resources play an important role in creating more industrial opportunities, accommodating industrial transferring abilities and building up industrial chains.

Tianjin sticks to the pivotal principle of enhancing its capacity for independent innovation and developing advanced technology in creating new industrial advantages. While further accelerating major construction of three levels of enterprise technological center, it attaches more importance to constructing industrial innovatory platform, developing generic technology for industrial development, key technology and future technology. It will push forward the innovation regarding industry, product and technique development. Independent innovation is making more contribution to local industrial growth.

Till the end of 2008, Tianjin had put in totally 6.75 billion yuan, establishing ten industrial R&D-oriented companies, such as iron pipes, cars, Jinyao, electromechanical equipment, textile, medicine and Tiantie. It is estimated that there are 19 State-level enterprise technological centers, and 266 municipal-level technological centers in Tianjin.

At the same time, Tianjin has been treating major projects as the most important approach to apply the scientific outlook of development and unswervingly embarking on the track of modern industrialization. Since 2007, Tianjin has planned altogether 80 major industrial projects, such as the Airbus A320 final assembly line, the rocket launcher project, the 1-million-ton ethylene cracker and the 10-million-ton refinery, with a total investment of 435.8 billion yuan. By the first half of 2009, there have been 23 projects going on stream, 53 under construction and 4 to start construction in the 2nd half of the year. Another batch of 190 new projects were unveiled in 2009. Twenty of them are extremely important industrial projects with a investment of 140 billion yuan. These projects are technically oriented, energy efficient, environmental friendly and demonstration setting. They will have far-reaching influence on other projects and play an important role in upgrading Tianjin’s industries, enhancing innovation, facilitating balanced development of the whole Municipality and transforming developing pattern.

According to China’s “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” (2006-2010), the investment scale in Tianjin’s industry will surpass 700 billion yuan, making Tianjin an international modern industrial base with first-class products, leading technologies and significant economic scale.