The Hai'an Economic and Technical Development Zone (HETDZ) in Hai'an, a county-level city in Nantong, Jiangsu province, was recently named a national innovative industrial demonstration base on a list issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The zone was singled out for its competitive equipment manufacturing industry. It was officially recognized as a national-level development zone in 2012, the first in a county-level city in Nantong. It covers an area of 833 hectares, and has been developing industrial robots, automatic devices, electronic equipment, and automobile components.

A total of 144 enterprises involved in high-end equipment currently operate in the zone, generating more than 23 million yuan ($3.30 million) in sales, or 62.5 percent of all sales in the zone.

Three development zones in Jiangsu province were included in the list, but HETDZ is the only one located in Nantong.

The listed industrial bases are engaged in a variety of fields, including equipment manufacturing, raw materials, customer goods, electronic information, software, communication services, and emerging industries.