"Small and medium-sized enterprises can achieve great things." Specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative SMEs focus on their core business and cultivate it with precision. They are a key force in stabilizing industrial and supply chains and consolidating the modern industrial system. These enterprises may be small in scale, but their specialization is high. Through technological breakthroughs in their respective niches, they fill industrial gaps and accumulate development momentum.
As 2026 marks the opening year of the "15th Five-Year Plan," the online promotional campaign "Observing China in the Opening Year 鈥?Daily Progress in Jianghuai," hosted by the Cyberspace Administration of China and the Cyberspace Administration of Anhui Province, focuses on Anhui's vivid practices where technological innovation empowers high-quality development. A research visit to Fuyang revealed impressive achievements by a group of national-level specialized and innovative "little giant" enterprises. As a traditionally major agricultural city, Fuyang has deeply cultivated advanced manufacturing, nurturing a host of hardcore tech innovators. These enterprises have abandoned extensive expansion models, choosing instead to deeply cultivate niche tracks and tackle core technologies. With a development approach that is "small yet specialized, small yet refined," they have become a vivid microcosm of how specialized and innovative enterprises nationwide use targeted innovation in sub-sectors as a "small breakthrough" to build a "solid foundation" for industrial chain security.
Industrial chains are intricately linked. Shortcomings or gaps in foundational links can easily leave the entire chain vulnerable to external control. The core strength of specialized and innovative enterprises lies in their concentrated efforts in weak industrial foundations, deep cultivation of niche sectors, and breaking through bottlenecks at single points to complete supporting infrastructure. For a long time, relying on imports for key basic materials and core components has been a prominent pain point restricting the independent upgrade of China's manufacturing industry. Several specialized and innovative enterprises in Fuyang have targeted these issues with precision. Mitan Materials has cracked core technologies for photoresist photosensitizers, providing a domestic substitution plan for the semiconductor industry chain. Jixiang Sanbao High-Tech focuses on functional textile new materials, driving the traditional textile industry toward high-end new material upgrades. Xiangsheng Technology is dedicated to chip resistor R&D, strengthening the foundational support for the electronics industry. Zhonghui Chuangzhi has broken through industrial magnetic resonance wireless power supply technology, offering new power support for intelligent equipment and logistics robots. These enterprises, rooted in niche markets and committed to core business innovation, effectively reduce dependence on foreign sources in key areas, mitigate supply chain disruption risks, and continuously enhance the overall resilience and security of the industrial chain through individual technological advancements.
The value of specialized and innovative enterprises lies not only in breakthroughs at individual points but also in transforming individual strengths into systemic advantages through industrial synergy. A single technological achievement is like a scattered pearl; only when strung together and interconnected can it become a stable supply chain security capability. Li Huali, Deputy Director of the Management Committee of Yingquan Economic Development Zone, stated that the clustering of specialized and innovative enterprises in fields like new materials, electronic components, and intelligent equipment, with complementary strengths and collaborative empowerment, has effectively addressed the shortcomings of fragmented industrial support and weak chain structures, continuously promoting chain extension, gap-filling, and chain strengthening. The zone supports tech enterprises in taking root through precise factor guarantees, full-cycle government services, and regular supply-demand matchmaking. Relying on leading enterprises to aggregate upstream and downstream resources and cultivate niche industrial clusters, the zone has significantly improved regional industrial support levels and collaborative development efficiency.
Industrial chain security does not mean absolute self-sufficiency. The core lies in building a supply system with diversified alternatives and manageable risks, creating a "buffer pool" for industrial risks. Specialized and innovative enterprises in various fields in Fuyang are developing with differentiated positions and complementing each other, forming a robust regional advanced manufacturing support matrix. When enterprises achieve domestic technological localization, it not only consolidates their own core competitiveness but also provides domestic substitution options for upstream chain-leading enterprises. This enriches the supply system and reduces dependence on single overseas suppliers. As independent innovation entities continue to emerge in various sub-sectors, the industrial chain will form a stable, multi-point supported structure, significantly enhancing its ability to withstand external shocks. The integrated development and mutual empowerment of large and small enterprises, with chain-leading enterprises opening up application scenarios and specialized and innovative enterprises providing hardcore supporting capabilities, allow innovation achievements to take root and flourish, continuously solidifying the industrial security foundation.
The clustering and growth of specialized and innovative enterprises do not happen purely by market forces. They result from sustained cultivation and precise empowerment through a quality business environment and a robust innovation ecosystem. To promote the specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative development path for SMEs, the key is to coordinate government guidance with market leadership, improve the gradient cultivation system for quality SMEs, break down barriers to collaboration across innovation, industrial, capital, and talent chains, and clear obstacles while creating fertile ground for enterprises to focus on their core business and innovate with dedication. Data shows that by March 2026, the province had cumulatively cultivated 14,600 innovative SMEs, 7,990 provincial-level specialized and innovative SMEs, and 810 national-level specialized and innovative "little giant" enterprises, ranking 7th nationally in total cultivation. This comprehensive gradient cultivation system provides solid support for the iterative upgrading and quality growth of SMEs across the province.
Enterprises are the main drivers of innovation. They must stay true to their core business, cultivate long-term innovation focus, and be willing to endure the solitude of research, avoiding the impatience of blind diversification and expansion. They should continuously deepen their niche markets and accumulate core technological advantages. At the industry level, there should be continued deepening of integrated innovation mechanisms between large and small enterprises. This includes encouraging chain-leading enterprises to open testing and application scenarios, establishing regular supply-demand matchmaking platforms, unblocking bottlenecks in technology transfer, and helping specialized and innovative enterprises move innovation outcomes from technical breakthroughs and sample iterations to large-scale deployment and industrial application. Local governments must tailor policies and services based on regional industrial strengths. They should focus precise empowerment on core pain points such as pilot-scale testing and conversion, financing difficulties, and talent attraction and cultivation. They must abandon one-sided assessment indicators based solely on quantity or scale, adopting instead the resolution of industrial shortcomings and the consolidation of industrial chain security as the core evaluation benchmark. The vigorous rise of specialized and innovative enterprises in Fuyang is a vivid practice of local dedication to industry cultivation, optimization of the innovation ecosystem, and precise support for enterprise development.
"Accumulated earth makes a mountain; wind and rain rise from it." Advancing the construction of a manufacturing powerhouse and treading the path of new industrialization requires both "towering" chain-leading large enterprises to guide industrial cluster development and a "sprawling" base of specialized and innovative SMEs to root themselves in niche tracks and solidify the industrial foundation. The stability of the industrial system relies not only on major complete machine projects but also on the iterative upgrades of various basic, detailed components. Countless specialized and innovative enterprises, remaining true to their core business and driving innovation, use "small breakthroughs" in numerous sub-sectors to fill gaps, strengthen weak links, and consolidate fundamentals. They continuously enhance the independent controllability of industrial and supply chains, laying a solid foundation for building a modern industrial system and promoting high-quality economic development.
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