Haimen district in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province is stepping up support for small and medium-sized enterprises to foster more "little giant" companies. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

Haimen district in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province has implemented an innovation-driven development strategy, which has allowed it to achieve remarkable progress in promoting the district's high-quality development.

According to official data, five enterprises in Haimen were included on the fourth National-level Little Giants list this year, hitting a new record. Haimen has nine national-level little giants, while 17 and 52 of its enterprises were on the provincial and municipal levels, respectively.

The term "little giants" refers to leading small and medium-sized enterprises specializing in niche sectors, commanding a high market share, and boasting strong innovative capacity and core technologies. Little giants have played a strong leading role in promoting innovation in various industries.

In recent years, Haimen has attached great importance to promoting the development of little giant companies and the local government has released a slew of measures to support the high-quality development of the manufacturing sector. 

"Haimen will make continuous efforts to encourage enterprises to increase spending on R&D and technological upgrading through proper release of information and improved guidance, in a bid to help micro, small and medium-sized enterprises develop into highly specialized and sophisticated ones," said Guo Xiaomin, Party secretary of Haimen district.