Private Economy "Five Lists": Zhejiang Private Enterprises Lead the Nation for Two Consecutive Years

According to Hangzhou Daily on March 8, in the five rankings released last year by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce—“500 Private Enterprises in R&D Investment by 2025,” “500 Invention Patents,” “Top 500 Chinese Private Enterprises,” “Top 500 Manufacturing Private Enterprises,” and “Top 100 Service Private Enterprises”—Zhejiang private enterprises have ranked first in the country for two consecutive years.

Ding Lieming, chairman of Betta Pharmaceuticals (300558.SZ), said that the company’s R&D investment over the past three years exceeded 2.7 billion yuan, accounting for nearly 40% of revenue on average, with more than 20 new drugs under research. He also pointed out that Zhejiang’s private economy leads nationwide mainly due to a market consensus on innovation-driven development and tackling core technologies. Among the 200 private enterprises in Zhejiang that have increased R&D investment by 2025, the total R&D expenditure reached 268.828 billion yuan. This also shows that “Zhejiang private enterprises are not only good at deepening market engagement but are also willing to continuously invest in technological innovation, which is the driving force and source of sustainable development for private enterprises.”

Ming Wenbiao, Executive Director of the New Economy Development Research Center at Zhejiang Tsinghua Yangtze River Delta Research Institute, said, “Currently, Zhejiang’s private economy has entered an innovation-driven phase, with high-tech companies like DeepSeek and Yushu Robotics emerging gradually.” In his long-term observation, over the past five years, Zhejiang private enterprises have paid more attention to technological innovation, green transformation, and global expansion, shifting from “factor-driven” to “innovation-driven,” from “import substitution” to “independent control,” and from “export” to “going global.” At the same time, Zhang Tianren, a National People’s Congress delegate and chairman of Tianneng Holdings Group, emphasized that “timely policy guidance and the dual effort of private enterprises to steadfastly pursue innovation are the fundamental logic behind Zhejiang’s private economy’s sustained prosperity and victory.”