“Mianyang is China’s Science and Technology City, but what flourishes here extends far beyond technology to embrace poetry and distant horizons.” On July 13, at the Mianyang thematic press conference under the series “Vibrant Sichuan: Striding Forward into the 15th Five-Year Plan” hosted by the Information Office of the Sichuan Provincial People’s Government, Jiang Bin, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Mianyang Municipal Committee and Mayor of Mianyang, unraveled the rich character of the city with these evocative and heartfelt words.

As a city entrusted by the nation with the strategic mission of constructing a pioneer zone for science and technology innovation with Chinese characteristics, Mianyang’s intellectual ingenuity has left its mark on China’s most celebrated engineering achievements that continue to astonish the world, from the Shenzhou manned spaceflights and Chang’e lunar explorations to the Jiaolong deep-sea submersible and the Beidou satellite navigation network. Coinciding with the 30-year milestone of the Science and Technology City’s establishment, world-leading FLASH radiotherapy technology is accelerating the conversion of rich laboratory research into formidable momentum for industrial growth.

Marching forward into the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Mianyang’s roadmap for strategic breakthroughs is clearly delineated. Through this press conference, one can decipher the formula behind Mianyang’s continuous advancement, while witnessing how the city translates its profound dedication to national priorities, provincial strategies, and public well-being directly into the living reality of its 15th Five-Year Plan development.

01 Greater Substance Within, Greater Vibrancy Without

Addressing widespread concerns surrounding urban renewal and investing in people, Jiang Bin, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Mianyang Municipal Committee and Mayor of Mianyang, outlined Mianyang’s approach through two distinct sets of keywords.

The first encompasses the three dimensions of underground, ground-level, and aerial development, while the second focuses on four critical areas: education, healthcare, services for the elderly and children, and the holistic development of young people. This dual approach illustrates the Science and Technology City’s balanced development philosophy, seamlessly uniting robust structural foundations with compassionate public care.

This year, tailored to distinct urban characteristics including a high concentration of scientific research institutions, numerous Third Front heritage sites, rich cultural resources, and extensive older urban districts, Mianyang will initiate renewal projects across “four key zones”:

The Science City Zone will closely focus on the needs of scientific research and production alongside the aspirations of experts and talent, enhancing public service facilities and building a complete Science City community that embodies the spirit of “Two Bombs, One Satellite.”

The Yuejin Road Zone will focus on reviving Third Front memories and invigorating vibrant local life. Through revitalizing underutilized assets and adaptively reusing historic quarters, the initiative aims to build new landmarks that seamlessly integrate historical and cultural districts with complete communities.

The Furong Zone will prioritize youth-friendly city development and the youth economy, enrich cultural elements from the Han, Tang, and Three Kingdoms periods, and cultivate vibrant new consumption destinations where young people naturally gather and tourists eagerly flock to visit.

The Anzhou Old Town Zone will closely target the characteristics of the urban-rural fringe and accurately map out a public service “demographic map.” This initiative will build an all-age-friendly living circle that seamlessly integrates industry and urban life, ensuring facilities are tailored to people’s needs and urban growth is anchored in industrial development.

The vitality of a city lies not merely in the renewal of its physical infrastructure, but even more profoundly in the gathering of people and the vibrant unleashing of human potential. Mianyang will intensify its efforts to invest in people, strategically planning infrastructure guided by demographic mapping, and promoting the coordinated development of material and cultural progress.

Focusing on high quality and balanced development, educational provision adheres to the principle of building schools where populations grow. By coordinating the allocation of educational resources and continuously advancing the “Dual Excellence” initiative, which promotes premier schools leading educational development and sharing top-tier resources, the city is narrowing disparities between urban and rural areas as well as among schools, further burnishing Mianyang’s gold-standard reputation in education.

Healthcare services emphasize diversified provision by institutionalizing accessible health check-ups for senior citizens, delivering full-chain, one-stop maternal and child healthcare, and offering targeted follow-ups for patients with chronic conditions and key focus groups. Concurrently, the city is advancing innovative initiatives such as the inter-hospital mutual recognition of medical testing and examination results. Furthermore, in expanding specialized medical resources, Mianyang is accelerating the integration of a complete industrial chain covering the R&D and manufacturing of medical cyclotrons, proton therapy equipment, and novel radiopharmaceuticals. By establishing prominent application scenarios for advanced nuclear medicine equipment, the city seeks to better satisfy multi-tiered patient healthcare needs.

Left: World’s first X-Flash radiotherapy system, made in Mianyang

Right: China’s first e-Flash radiotherapy system, made in Mianyang

Services for senior citizens and young children are committed to inclusive and universal accessibility. The city is establishing an elderly care network that is home-based, community-supported, and institution-supplemented, while continuously advancing the quality and brand recognition of senior care services. Concurrently, Mianyang is deepening the integration of infant childcare and preschool education, gradually introducing free preschool education, and steadily reducing family expenditures related to childbirth, parenting, and education, devotedly safeguarding the well-being of residents from the dawn of youth to the twilight of their golden years.

Youth development centers on “building the nest to attract the phoenix.” By vigorously advancing the “Employment Dream-Seeking Plan” and the “Youth Entrepreneurship Initiative,” the city provides accessible and practical support such as “a bed and a room’ for young newcomers arriving in Mianyang. Furthermore, Mianyang is creating vibrant lifestyle spaces and trendy recreational destinations, including youth commercial hubs, athletic facilities, and cultural and creative blocks, bringing to life the mutual vision where “the city empowers youth with opportunities, while youth empower the city with a future.’

02 “Connecting” Across the Globe, “Consuming” Across All Horizons

Recently, HKC Corporation listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and signed an agreement for an additional project in Mianyang, achieving five consecutive rounds of investment. This milestone serves as a vivid testament to the surging vitality of Mianyang’s open economy.

Deng Hui, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Mianyang Municipal Committee and Executive Vice Mayor of Mianyang, stated that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Mianyang will proactively pursue both outbound expansion and inbound investment. The city will expand development space and pool key resources across broader scopes, wider domains, and deeper levels, driving high-quality development through high-standard opening up.

Mianyang Nanjiao Airport

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Mianyang’s transportation investment consistently exceeded 10 billion yuan each year, achieving expressway connectivity across every county. Standing at a new starting point, Mianyang will upgrade its external transport corridors from basic connectivity to seamless travel, with the railway sector prioritizing efficient interconnectivity.The city will complete the Mianyang-Suining section of the Mianyang-Suining-Ziyang-Neijiang Railway, enabling direct travel to Chongqing in as fast as 1.5 hours. At the same time, Mianyang will accelerate preliminary feasibility research for the Mianyang-Anzhou section to forge a cross-shaped railway backbone network.

Expressways will prioritize convenient and smooth travel. The city will complete major projects including the G5 Mianyang-Guangyuan Expressway expansion and the Nanchong-Santai Expressway, striving to surpass 1,000 kilometers in total expressway mileage open to traffic and under construction. This will accelerate the development of a comprehensive transport network featuring dual expressways for every county and triple expressways connecting adjacent cities and prefectures.

Aviation will focus on expanding reach and elevating quality. While continuously broadening the route network of Mianyang Nanjiao Airport, the city will seize strategic opportunities in the low-altitude economy, completing Phase II of Beichuan Yongchang Airport and commencing construction of the Jiangyou General Airport.

Externally, Mianyang is smoothing open corridors of connectivity; internally, the city is invigorating its vibrant consumption potential. Taking this season’s Sichuan Super League as an example, Mianyang captured the runner-up title and was affectionately dubbed by netizens as the savvy “Second Brother” of the league, providing a compelling demonstration of how sports events empower urban growth. Deng Hui noted that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Mianyang will capitalize on key pilot opportunities to systematically build the “Favor Mianyang” city brand. By fully unlocking consumption potential and spurring innovation across the service industry, the city aims to accelerate its development into a regional sub-center of consumption across the Sichuan-Chongqing area and a leading service-sector powerhouse in central and western China.

Mianyang’s consumer market surged with vibrant activity during the Sichuan Super League.

The city is dedicated to creating immersive consumer experiences. By capitalizing on its three signature calling cards: the Hometown of Li Bai, the legacy of “Two Bombs, One Satellite,” and the Giant Panda Sanctuary, Mianyang will amplify the cultural influence of Leizu, Yu the Great, and Wenchang, positioning itself as a regional tourism hub and an essential tourism distribution center for the province. Furthermore, Mianyang will optimize the operation of 11 “Shu Li An Yi” new consumption scenarios and drive quality upgrades across key commercial districts, including “Mianzhou Memories” and “Shangma Stories.” Through the introduction of virtual reality shopping and metaverse experiences, the city will actively cultivate service consumption clusters alongside premier nighttime culture and tourism destinations.

During the summer vacation, study tour groups visit Mianyang’s “Two Bombs City” Scenic Area for immersive educational travel.

The city is developing interactive models to invigorate consumer engagement. By deepening cross-sector IP collaborations, Mianyang supports brand retailers in partnering with trending domestic animation, film, and television IPs alongside traditional cultural resources to create novel retail paradigms. To expand the “ticket stub economy,” Mianyang leverages more than 300 sporting events and cultural performances hosted annually, establishing an integrated “all-in-one ticket” closed-loop system that seamlessly translates event attendance into comprehensive, citywide consumer spending. Concurrently, the city is actively cultivating the debut economy by establishing a dedicated service framework spanning first stores in Southwest China, premier flagship outlets in Sichuan, and inaugural stores in Mianyang, empowering local brands to achieve breakthrough product launches and expand their market reach.

The city is actively expanding diversified business formats. By cultivating new growth drivers in producer services, Mianyang is scaling emerging sectors such as scientific and technological information, R&D and industrial design, and inspection and testing, realizing a dynamic synergy where technology empowers services and services in turn nourish advanced manufacturing. Simultaneously, Mianyang is driving the high-quality advancement of consumer services by championing innovative formats including on-demand retail, unmanned retail, and digital cultural creativity. This strategy establishes an integrated commercial closed loop spanning traffic acquisition, immersive experience, and transaction conversion, allowing cutting-edge technology to meaningfully enrich residents’ daily lives and seamlessly blend into diverse consumer scenarios.

03 “Innovation” Empowers Growth, “Industrial Chains” Drive the Future

Build a source of scientific and technological innovation, turning "key variables" into "maximum increments". The next five years mark a critical period for the Science and Technology City to develop into a pioneer zone for scientific and technological innovation, as well as a milestone when the city reaches its 30th anniversary. Yang Guangyao, Deputy Director of the Administrative Committee of China (Mianyang) Science and Technology City, stated that the authority will advance scientific and technological innovation and the commercialization of research findings in an integrated manner, strengthen its role as an innovation source and its capacity to lead high-end industries, and shoulder important responsibilities in serving the overall national strategic landscape.

 A case shared at the press conference vividly illustrates Mianyang’s accelerated progress in research translation: the magnetic-resistant cryogenic temperature sensor developed by the Laser Fusion Research Center, CAEP, enables precise measurement in ultra-low-temperature environments down to -272°C. It can be applied across multiple technical fields including quantum computing, controlled nuclear fusion, hydrogen energy and nuclear medicine, and is being fast-tracked toward market launch.

 Yang Guangyao explained that to bridge the “last mile” from the innovation chain to the industrial chain, Mianyang has explored and established a dual-drive model for research achievement translation. Innovation platforms such as Tianfu Institute of Industrial Technology screen and facilitate translation, while the science and technology investment fund focuses on early-stage and small-scale ventures. Joint research is underway for five projects including the “high-end robot control chip”.

 The ultimate goal of scientific and technological innovation lies in empowering industries. The Mianyang-developed components aboard the Shenzhou-23 manned spacecraft serve as a vivid embodiment of the Science and Technology City’s commitment to expanding industrial clusters and strengthening supply chains and advancing new-type industrialization. For the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Mianyang will promote the in-depth integration of innovation, industrial, capital and talent chains, and accelerate the development of a modern industrial system underpinned by advanced manufacturing.

Steady growth of competitive strengths consolidates the fundamental industrial base. Focusing on five pillar industries including electronic information, advanced materials and equipment manufacturing, Mianyang will implement an upgrading and multiplication initiative. It will coordinate the national dual pilot programs for new technological transformation and digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises, accelerate the full coverage of intelligent and digital transformation among industrial enterprises above designated size, build an electronic information industrial cluster with a scale of 200 billion yuan, and drive other industries toward the 100-billion-yuan threshold.

China (Mianyang) Science and Technology City Intelligent Manufacturing Industrial Park

Expanding emerging industries to foster new growth poles. Mianyang will leverage the aggregation effect of two leading enterprises—BOE and HKC—to shore up weaknesses in key materials such as optical films and polarizers, targeting an annual revenue of over 100 billion yuan. By fully tapping into the list of 126 industrial application scenarios, the city will grow its distinctive AI Plus industrial cluster. Focusing on niche tracks including medium-to-large UAVs and aero-engines, Mianyang will build an aerospace industrial hub with nationwide influence.

 China (Mianyang) Science and Technology City (Beichuan) UAV Industrial Park

 Seizing the future and prevailing in new tracks. Mianyang will refine a full-coverage innovation framework of “one track, one platform, one research institute”, galvanizing the development of the complete industrial chain covering nuclides, radiopharmaceuticals, nuclear medical equipment and clinical applications, and building a national innovation hub for the nuclear medicine industry. It will make forward-looking arrangements in cutting-edge fields such as embodied intelligence and quantum technology, strive to establish a national pilot zone for future industries, and enable more “new tracks” to evolve into “main tracks”.

China (Mianyang) Science and Technology City Nuclear Medicine Health Industrial Park

 04 Lush Farmlands Weave Splendor, Green Hills Frame Prosperity

Rural areas shall grow stronger and more dynamic, delivering both output value and scenic beauty. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Mianyang stayed focused on the overarching goal of rural revitalization. Its grain output stabilized at 4.8 billion jin, production capacity of live pigs and poultry eggs was steadily reinforced, and 622 livable, suitable-for-work and beautiful villages were built. Shiyi Village in Beichuan was honored as a National Most Beautiful Courtyard Village. The per capita disposable income of rural residents rose by 42.9% over five years to reach 24,409 yuan, laying a more solid foundation for rural development.

Li Jie, Director of Mianyang Development and Reform Commission, stated that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Mianyang will deepen key reforms including the extension of land contractual rights and spatial governance of farmland, forest and garden land. It will carry out initiatives to boost grain and oil yield per unit area and foster characteristic agriculture, systematically upgrade infrastructure such as farmland water conservancy, rural road networks and power grids, revitalize idle rural collective and state-owned assets, cultivate diverse rural business forms, and fully accelerate the modernization of agriculture and rural areas.

 High-quality advancement of rural revitalization hinges on a sound ecological foundation. The sight of green mountains greeting residents at their windows and clear rivers with verdant banks for strollers is deeply embedded in Mianyang’s ecological identity.

 Since the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Mianyang has taken the lead in advancing coordinated development among nine regions in Sichuan and Chongqing along the Fujiang River Basin. It has launched cross-regional industrial projects worth over 5 billion yuan and secured more than 100 cross-regional cooperation outcomes. The city has built 70 enterprises with sound environmental performance and nurtured 85 national and provincial-level green factories. Pingwu County has been recognized as a national innovation and practice base for the “Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets” philosophy, realizing mutual reinforcement between a picturesque ecological environment and high-quality development.

As an important water conservation area and ecological barrier in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Mianyang adheres to the principle of ecological priority and green development, and keeps broadening pathways for ecological value realization — consolidating and nurturing its ecological foundation. It will upgrade the space-air-ground integrated traceability and prevention and control system, steadily carry forward the battles for blue skies, clear waters and pure land, step up protection of ecological resources including the ancient cypress groves of Cuiyun Corridor, and continuously enhance urban landscaping.

 Exploring diversified pathways for value conversion. Mianyang will bolster the distinctive IP of China Giant Panda Garden, further develop green business forms including eco-tourism, forest wellness and nature education, improve the ecological compensation mechanism for the Fujiang River Basin, and promote joint ecological prevention and control as well as coordinated industrial growth across the basin.

Accelerating low-carbon transition in industrial development. Mianyang will push forward energy-saving and carbon-reduction retrofits of traditional industries such as thermal power and building materials, expand green competitive industries including electronic information and advanced materials, build a clean and low-carbon energy system, foster green factories and zero-carbon parks in a phased manner, and blaze a path of high-quality development featuring sound ecology, thriving industries, low carbon and high efficiency. 

Today, the land of Mianzhou brims with vibrant vitality and driving momentum, radiating an upbeat and energetic atmosphere. Marching toward the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Mianyang will focus on its Three Major Missions: accelerating the development of a pioneer zone for scientific and technological innovation with Chinese characteristics, building a key hub for national strategic hinterland, and growing into a provincial sub-center of the economy. It will strive to deliver the Five Major Goals: a source of scientific and technological innovation, a cluster for modern industries, a pilot zone for urban-rural integration, a new highland for reform and opening-up, and a livable place for high-quality life. Guided by a pragmatic and enterprising spirit, Mianyang will forge ahead resolutely to write a new chapter of Chinese modernization in the city!