The number of technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Hubei Province stood at 12,309 in the first quarter of 2023, with a year-on-year increase of 86.84 percent, the Department of Science and Technology of Hubei Province said on April 11.

Wuhan City Circle, Xiangyang City Circle and Yichang-Jingzhou-Jingmen City Cluster were home to 6,292, 1,739 and 2,227 technology-based SMEs, respectively, taking up a 83.34-percent share in total.

The technology-based SMEs in key industries such as optical communications, chips, new display screens, smart terminals, digital economy, advanced manufacturing, biomedicine and new materials have witnessed rapid development. Among them, there were 10,250 enterprises in manufacturing, information industry, scientific research and technical service industry, accounting for 83.27 percent.

The overall R&D investment of technology-based SMEs in Hubei amounted to 22.24 billion yuan, up 21.52 percent year on year. A total of 120,665 items of intellectual property were produced, soaring by 48.82 percent year on year. Among them, there were 8,775 items of first-class intellectual property, ascending by 46.67 percent year on year.(en.hubei.gov.cn by Zhang Yawei）