Recently, theAnnual Report on the Coordinated Development of Science and Technology Services and Industries of Urban Agglomeration in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River (2022）, compiled by the Center for Studies of Information Resources, Wuhan University, Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of Ministry of Education, was officially published by the Social Sciences Academic Press (China). This Annual Report is one of the series achievements of the national key R&D programR&D and Application Demonstration of Comprehensive Science and Technology Services Platform of Urban Agglomeration in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River. Gang Li, Professor at the SIM, Wuhan University, Chief Expert of the Information Resources Management Innovation Group Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and Chief Expert of the Center of National Technology Transfer (Middle Region), is the Editor-in-Chief. The Annual Report was strongly supported by Development Research Center of Yangtze River Economic Zone, Wuhan University, Hubei Technology Exchange, Hunan Institute of Scientific and Technical Information, and Jiangxi Institute of Science and Technology Information.

The Annual Report includes three parts: general report, industry report and regional report, with a total of more than 270,000 words. It comprehensively and systematically analyzes the foundation, achievements, challenges and opportunities of the coordinated development of science and technology services and industries in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, focusing on the basic ideas and policy suggestions for promoting the coordinated development of science and technology services and industries in the new stage of high-quality development, and studies the innovative practice of the coordinated development of science and technology services and industries from the perspective of industries and regions of urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

Innovation in science and technology is the first driving force to lead the high-quality development of urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. According to the Report, optimizing science and technology services is the key to realize scientific and technological innovation leading industrial upgrading and cultivating new economic growth points. The industries with common advantages and science and technology services of urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River have generally developed rapidly, and the trend of science and technology services clustering and characteristic development is obvious, initially forming a collaborative innovation pattern of science and technology services and industries facing the high-quality development of urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. However, compared with the eastern region, the coordinated development of science and technology services and industry is still in the primary stage, and there is still much room for improvement in the aspects of high-end factor gathering, resource advantage transformation, original innovation potential exertion, and the matching between supply and demand of science and technology and industry.

The Report points out that in the new development stage, the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River should seize the opportunity, focus on the cluster development of industries with common advantages such as optoelectronic information, advanced intelligent equipment manufacturing and modern biomedicine, speed up the construction of an innovative research base with international leading position and an innovation platform combined with industry-university-research, and build a double-cycle development pattern of scientific and technological innovation and cooperation and mutual promotion of enterprise needs; Constantly optimize the system design of coordinated development of science and technology services in urban agglomeration, create a “V” formation of coordinated development of regional science and technology services and industries, promote the development of science and technology services innovation from "point breakthrough" to "chain innovation", and form a joint force of regional science and technology services; Improve the government's governance ability to promote the innovation of science and technology services, and strengthen the factor guarantee for the coordinated development of science and technology services and industries; Deepen the reform of the system and mechanism, build a new format of science and technology services with innovative leading enterprises and small and medium-sized science and technology enterprises as the main structure, and help to form a new pattern of high-quality coordinated development of science and technology services and industries with common advantages.

Gang Li expressed that in the future, he should deepen the research on the development of science and technology innovation enabling industries, and continue to promote the research and practical innovation of the Center for Studies of Information Resources, Wuhan University, in the fields of big data, digital technology and digital economy, and effectively promote the coordinated development of science and technology services and industries of urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.