Opinion | How Hangzhou’s tech ecosystem nurtures dragons and rockets
It’s not one factor but a ‘rainforest’ of policy, capital, talent, universities and research institutions operating within clear boundaries
Hangzhou’s space industry got off to a flying start in 2026. On January 7, China’s leading private rocket firm Space Epoch broke ground on a medium-to-large liquid rocket assembly, testing and reuse facility in Hangzhou’s Qiantang district. Basing this in the port city allows the rockets to be transported by sea to launch areas in the East China Sea and recovered the same way.
Commercial aerospace, however, is only one piece of Hangzhou’s blueprint for high-impact tech sectors. Last October, the city introduced its “296X” industrial cluster system, a road map to accelerate the integration of technological and industrial innovation.
Hangzhou targets 530 billion yuan in total added value by these clusters by 2027, up from 441 billion yuan in 2024, counting only companies with annual revenues of 20 million yuan or more.
The motivation is structural. The city’s success in digitalisation has also exposed a vulnerability as services expanded to account for over 70 per cent of economic output, feeding a perception of imbalance. The 296X strategy is a serious attempt to re-anchor advanced manufacturing in its economy.