A total of seven Nantong-based companies reached the top 100 innovative enterprises in Jiangsu province, according to a list recently released by the Jiangsu Science and Technology Development Strategy Research Institute.

To be included on the list, companies had to excel in four requirements involving innovation in investment, innovation in output, innovation in performance, and innovation in management.

The institute said that among the top 100 innovative enterprises, the sales revenue of new products accounted for an average of 42.4 percent of companies’ total revenue.

It added that some 90 percent of the companies are high tech-based enterprises, or their core subsidiaries are high-tech enterprises, and all of the enterprises boasted research and development institutions.

All of the companies on the list have successfully applied for and obtained independent intellectual property rights.

The companies had an average of 332.7 valid patents.