Abandoned mines are restored to a park in Daye, Hubei province. (PHOTO: VCG)

By Staff Reporters

Daye, a typical resource-based city in central China's Hubei province, is employing sci-tech innovation to accelerate the high-quality development of its economy.

Due to years of mining, the city's mineral resources were on the verge of depletion, leading to a lack of development momentum and increased pressure on the ecological environment.

To break away from the dependence on mineral resources, Daye is adjusting its industrial structure, utilizing advanced sci-tech to develop emerging sustainable industries such as machinery manufacturing, new materials and life health.

Centering on the aluminum profile industry, Daye is building, strengthening and supplementing an industrial cluster which includes a number of leading aluminum profile enterprises, and a group of supporting small and medium-sized enterprises.

The city is also developing high-tech "little giant" enterprises to upgrade its traditional industries, such as the mining engineering equipment.

Different categories and models of energy-saving and environmentally-friendly mining products have been developed. The vision for the future is to switch traditional fuel-powered equipment to pure electric versions, and control underground operations from the office through intelligent unmanned remote control products.

"Through technological transformation and upgrading, as well as building industrial clusters and chains, we have driven the traditional industries of steel, cement and others to high-end and intelligent development, while also promoting the growth of industrial clusters in areas such as healthcare, electronic information, and energy conservation and environmental protection," said Dong Yang, director of the Science and Technology Bureau of Daye.

According to official data, by 2023, Daye had 333 high-tech enterprises, and its high-tech industry's output value was 45.2 billion RMB.

Having carved out a new path for the transformation of its resource-dependent economy through technological progress, Daye recently released its 2024 action plan for innovation-driven development. The plan will continue to boost technological innovation and cultivate new drivers of growth.