Two years ago, the inaugural Zhejiang Provincial Employee Innovation Exchange Event established a central platform for workers along the Qiantang River. Innovations originating from factory floors and production lines were brought into the spotlight, with innovative employees stepping forward from their machines and assembly lines. This event attracted over one million employees both online and offline, generated more than 60 million total online engagements, and catalyzed 563 related exchange activities across the province.
Two years on, this significant gathering for industrial workers is returning. From August 21st to 23rd, under the theme "Two Decades of Innovation and Craftsmanship, Embarking on a New Journey," the main event of the Second Zhejiang Provincial Employee Innovation Exchange will be held in Hangzhou, serving as a key vantage point for observing the region's innovative vitality.
During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, employees in Zhejiang carried out 164,000 technical innovations and inventions in their roles, a 47.2% increase compared to the "13th Five-Year Plan" period. Behind these figures lie countless innovative ideas born on the front lines, representing a significant force driving Zhejiang's manufacturing sector toward greater sophistication, intelligence, and sustainability.
How can these frontline innovations be discovered, supported, and commercialized? In recent years, Zhejiang has been actively seeking answers. In 2023, the Zhejiang Provincial Federation of Trade Unions issued the "Three-Year Action Plan for Building Zhejiang's Employee Innovation Work System (2024-2026)," outlining 21 key tasks across three major systems: organizational coordination, capability development, and service support. In June of this year, the Federation, together with 21 provincial departments, formulated the "Implementation Plan for Building a Growth-Oriented Society for Employees in Zhejiang (2026-2028)." A comprehensive network covering innovation platforms, talent development, technological breakthroughs, results transformation, and incentive guarantees is now taking shape.
Building a Comprehensive Employee Innovation Exchange Matrix
Compared to the first event, the scope of this year's Second Zhejiang Provincial Employee Innovation Exchange has significantly expanded. Starting in July, municipal trade unions across the province, in collaboration with local departments and provincial industrial unions with industry authorities, have been conducting a series of activities in various regions and sectors. At the provincial main venue, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions will also launch the "National Craftsmen Assisting Enterprises in Zhejiang" special event and the "AI+ Learning Initiative for National Industrial Workers" in Hangzhou.
"Dialogue Between National Craftsmen and the New Generation" and innovation achievement roadshows facilitate the exchange of experience; "Challenge Announcements" and signing ceremonies for converting employee innovations aim to bring these ideas to the production frontline. The "AI+ Innovation Application Agent Employee Vocational Skills Competition," "Ingenuity & AI Innovation Forum," and AI learning live courses integrate artificial intelligence throughout the event. Seven themed exchange zones, structured in a "3+3+1" layout, directly correspond to sectors like new energy vehicles and components, visual intelligence and network communications, green petrochemicals and new materials, high-end equipment and robotics, new energy and new-type energy storage, the low-altitude economy, and future industries with frontier technologies.
This year's event also features a special segment titled "Twenty Years of Innovation." Seven representatives of two decades of innovative heritage will share their experiences of innovating in their roles, while national craftsmen will engage in intergenerational dialogues with young employees and students. These changes are not coincidental. In the past, a master's unique skill might have relied primarily on oral tradition and hands-on apprenticeship. Now, frontline experience can be channeled into innovation studios, fuel collaborative research with universities and institutes, be codified into patents and brought to market, or gain new possibilities through tools like artificial intelligence.
In Longyou County, Quzhou, the local trade union has integrated "Five Small" innovation activities with labor competitions, the development of model worker and craftsman innovation studios, and the selection of Worker Pioneer units. Around leading local industries such as carbon-based paper and rail transit, they have established innovation tracks for "meritorious service competitions, intelligent manufacturing, safety production, green development, and digital ecosystems," hosting employee innovation exchange conferences that allow workers to showcase their frontline innovations. This county-level practice exemplifies how Zhejiang is lowering the barrier for employee participation in innovation. For a province with a vast manufacturing system, the practical wisdom distributed across countless factories, workshops, and teams is an indispensable component of its innovation framework. This is especially true as Zhejiang accelerates the development of its modern industrial system, where new sectors like AI, new energy, new materials, high-end equipment, and the low-altitude economy are growing rapidly, and traditional manufacturing is undergoing digital and intelligent transformation, making industrial competition increasingly about specific procedures, techniques, and parameters.
Since the implementation of the three-year action plan for the employee innovation work system two years ago, the province has carried out 51,303 employee technical renovation projects, achieved 28,506 employee invention projects, and promoted 13,540 advanced operational methods—increases of 27%, 42%, and 20% respectively compared to the previous two years. More and more innovations are emerging from workshops, teams, and production lines.
The Production Line: The Primary Site of Innovation
On the bustling production lines, frontline employees interact daily with equipment, processes, and products. How to assemble a part faster, shave seconds off a procedure, reduce equipment malfunctions, or lower operational waste—many innovations originate from these specific, on-the-ground challenges.
At Ningbo Hengxin Engineering Testing Co., Ltd., project technical lead Yan Liang is conducting non-destructive testing. In his previous work, he advanced the application of digital radiography for LNG storage tank weld inspection, achieving fully automated remote operation, a 40% efficiency boost, and significantly reduced radiation risks. He also participated in developing a PA debugging auxiliary device that integrates automated calibration and adaptive technology to further cut maintenance costs. Such stories are common across Zhejiang's factories. How do problems on the production floor become innovation projects? The Zhejiang trade unions have focused on the "small" aspects.
In recent years, Zhejiang has implemented a foundational project for mass innovation activities, with the "Five Small" initiatives as a key focus, integrating them into corporate R&D, team building, labor competitions, and safety production. A closed-loop mechanism of "participation-evaluation-transformation-reward" has been established. By linking with team building, innovation theory and practice are woven into daily work, cultivating employees' ability to identify, research, and solve problems. In conjunction with safety production, they continue to run rationalization suggestion campaigns for safety hazard rectification, selecting 100 "Golden Ideas" annually. Combined with merit-based competitions for key projects, frontline employees are encouraged to innovate around new technologies, processes, and materials.
A growing number of companies recognize that the frontline is not only where technology is ultimately used but also where innovation can first occur. "For an enterprise to achieve long-term development, continuous innovation is indispensable. Employees, as direct participants in the innovation process, are crucial; their innovative capability and motivation are vital to achieving this goal," said Dai Qinya, union chairperson of Hangzhou Jiepai Transmission Technology Co., Ltd. Zhejiang Zhongke Lide New Materials Co., Ltd. has introduced "Employee Innovation Management Measures" and "R&D Achievement Incentive Rules" to standardize the entire process from application to reward, linking innovative achievements with performance reviews, promotions, and compensation, balancing material rewards with recognition, and shifting employees' attitudes towards innovation. They have also established multi-level innovation platforms to provide comprehensive support for "Five Small" innovations in terms of space, equipment, and technology.
In the first half of this year, Zhejiang introduced measures to support enterprises leading provincial "Vanguard" and "Leader" projects, specifying that enterprises should lead or participate in no less than 80% of such projects. In some project application teams, industrial workers are also involved. This signifies a shift in the identity of frontline innovators. The main venue of the Second Employee Innovation Exchange, with its three dedicated exchange zones for "Innovative Achievements," "Innovative Talent," and "Innovation Ecosystem," is designed to comprehensively showcase this innovation matrix.
Facilitating the Flow of Innovation Along the Industrial Chain
Many production challenges cannot be solved by one person alone. When individuals from different positions, specialties, or even companies are organized together, the experience and capabilities scattered across production sites can create new synergies. Model worker and craftsman innovation studios serve as a key vehicle for this. Over the past three years, the province has established 210 new provincial-level model worker and craftsman innovation studios and provided key support to 60 existing ones. It has secured support from the All-China Federation of Trade Unions for 15工匠 colleges and 65 model worker innovation studios, ranking first nationally. Additionally, Zhejiang has built 90 provincial-level enterprise employee innovation workstations, extending the innovation front further into enterprise production lines.
However, more noteworthy than the increase in numbers is that these studios are "breaking down walls." "Three craftsmen divided their tasks and pinpointed the production line's 'bottleneck' problem in just three hours. Once their proposed solution was implemented, efficiency improved immediately!" said union chairperson Li Wenbin in the workshop of Zhejiang Hongqi Smart Home Co., Ltd. in Wangjiangjing Town, Jiaxing's Xiuzhou District. Relying on the "Model Workers and Craftsmen Assisting Enterprises" initiative, the town's trade union organized a "technical support team" of Jiaxing artisans—Liu Shili, Wang Wei, and Cai Xiaoting—to conduct a "precise diagnosis" for this rapidly growing smart furniture company. Cai focused on equipment assembly details, Wang pinpointed issues in component precision inspection, and Liu evaluated process coordination from an overall production line perspective. Their targeted solution resolved the company's persistent bottleneck. Now, Zhejiang is furthering initiatives like "Model Workers and Craftsmen Assisting Enterprises" and the construction of innovation studio alliances along the industrial, talent, and innovation chains, organizing technical backbones from various companies and trades to collaborate on solving common industrial problems.
During this year's Second Zhejiang Provincial Employee Innovation Exchange, 32 national craftsmen will form five service teams to visit Hangzhou, Huzhou, Jiaxing, Jinhua, and other locations, providing precise assistance in areas such as new energy and storage, intelligent manufacturing, construction and new materials, visual intelligence and network communications, and high-end equipment and robotics. The boundary between industrial workers and researchers is also being further blurred. Zhejiang is promoting pairings between provincial-level model worker innovation studios and science and technology innovation platforms. The White Horse Lake Laboratory has implemented a "master-apprentice pairing" mechanism where model workers lead and mentor, bringing young research talent into the entire process of technology development, pilot testing, scenario validation, and result optimization.
Technical colleges are also being integrated into this innovation network. Currently, technical colleges in Zhejiang have stable partnerships with over 6,500 enterprises, co-built more than 650 industrial and corporate academies, and run over 500 "order classes" and "named classes." In the past two years, more than 2,800 teachers have visited and served 5,152 enterprises, helping solve 1,205 technical problems and generating economic benefits of 260 million yuan.
Bridging the Gap in Innovation Commercialization
The journey from a production tip or process improvement to a protected intellectual property right and then to a replicable, marketable product is long. Ensuring that achievements truly move beyond competitions and studios to reach the production line and market is becoming a crucial part of Zhejiang's employee innovation system.
"Innovation cannot remain confined to papers; it must become productive forces," stated Pu Daoyong, leader of a provincial model worker innovation studio and R&D director at Zhejiang Jiuzhou New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. A technological innovation ultimately needs to be tested in production and the market. Addressing the practical issue of "mountainous road conditions and susceptibility to damage under heavy loads," Pu led his team through repeated technical breakthroughs to design the "210 High-Torque Electric Vehicle Drive Motor." This challenged the traditional "subtraction" approach, enhancing motor torque and load capacity while better adapting to complex mountain terrain. Following the technical breakthrough, the product quickly reached the market and has generated cumulative sales exceeding 300 million yuan.
Zhejiang has many such model worker innovation studios and skill master studios. To leverage their role, the province is tapping into micro-innovations in process improvement, equipment upgrades, and energy savings within workshops and teams. It is also introducing professional IP services to codify practical experience and on-site know-how, which might previously have remained oral tradition, into patent achievements. Furthermore, Zhejiang has innovatively built a full-chain cultivation system encompassing "product development - financial empowerment - market promotion" to facilitate the journey of patents from the "laboratory" to the "production line" and into the "broader market," bridging the "last mile" of commercialization.
Zhejiang is actively exploring AI large model empowerment for innovation commercialization. They are building the "Patent Bridge" model, which aggregates patent data from universities and research institutes with enterprise demand data, using intelligent matching to identify suitable companies and inventor teams for implementing specific patents. Platforms like patent navigation service bases and key industry IP alliances are also identifying technological gaps in the industrial chain and matching innovative achievements with industrial needs. This expands the possibilities for employee innovation: a "small innovation" on the frontline may no longer just save a company a cost, but could become a patent, a product, or even a link in industrial upgrading.
The Second Zhejiang Provincial Employee Innovation Exchange also places greater emphasis on "achievement transformation." The event will feature signing ceremonies for converting employee innovations, further refining mechanisms for demand matching, employee problem-solving, result implementation, and benefit distribution, aiming to establish a transformation chain of "display-negotiation-cooperation-implementation."
Ensuring Innovators Reap the Rewards of Their Creativity
Currently, Zhejiang has established an employee innovation talent pool of 5,100 individuals and an expert review pool of 560. Among the national model workers, national May 1st Labor Medal recipients, and provincial model workers recognized in the past two years, employee innovation talents account for over 35%. Zhejiang is attempting to more closely link innovative achievements with employee growth.
In the digital workshop of Chint Terminal Electric Manufacturing Department in Wenzhou, production manager Zhao Hongxia is demonstrating instrument operation standards to new employees. Twenty-six years ago, Zhao came to Zhejiang from Jiangxi to work, starting as an assembly line worker at Chint. Despite having only a junior high school education, she continuously improved herself, rising from assembly worker to production manager. The company's "eight-level technician system" provides a broad development stage for skilled workers like her on the front lines. At Kangnai Group, over 90% of mid-to-senior level managers and workshop team leaders are selected through internal skills competitions. "The nature of work is constantly changing, so we must also cultivate our employees with a growth-oriented mindset and methods to help them continuously improve," said Kangnai Group's party secretary and union chairperson, Cai Farong.
A more direct change is occurring in wage distribution. Zhejiang is exploring ways for innovation factors to participate in salary distribution. Currently, among enterprises conducting "capability-level wage" collective negotiations, 84.4% have incorporated innovation factors into the negotiation content. As technology changes and industries upgrade, the definition of an "excellent industrial worker" is also evolving. Ensuring innovators receive respect, opportunities for growth, and fair compensation means making innovative capability a "plus point" in employees' career development.
This year's employee innovation exchange event integrates AI elements throughout, hosting the "AI+ Innovation Application Agent Employee Vocational Skills Competition" and offering AI learning live courses. Currently, technical colleges in Zhejiang are promoting the "AI transformation" of traditional majors to cultivate composite skilled talents who "understand processes, are proficient in algorithms, and can operate equipment." Twenty technician colleges have also opened university student technician classes. On the enterprise side, AI is increasingly entering the skill sets and innovative practices of employees. In June this year, the Zhejiang Provincial Federation of Trade Unions, along with 21 provincial departments, formulated the "Implementation Plan for Building a Growth-Oriented Society for Employees in Zhejiang (2026-2028)," further prioritizing employee growth.
When the threshold for innovation is no longer insurmountable, when frontline production experience can be seen and transformed, and when more ordinary employees discover that innovation is possible within the machines, processes, and products they work with daily, "innovation" ceases to be an abstract concept. What an innovative province needs is to enable such possibilities continuously, ensuring every innovative spark from the production line has the chance to find its place, and allowing the collective creativity of millions of industrial workers to converge into a powerful force driving innovation in Zhejiang.