Dezhou City has been actively implementing an open investment attraction strategy. On one hand, this involves accelerating integration into national and provincial strategic initiatives to build high-level investment platforms. On the other, it continuously refines its methods for attracting businesses, bringing in more central enterprises and strong companies to extend industrial chains and bolster economic strength. This approach has yielded significant results. For high-quality county-level economic development in the new era, it is crucial to further advance the investment-driven strategy and construct a new pattern of open cooperation that is broader in scope, wider in domain, and deeper in level. What new practices and explorations has Dezhou undertaken in this regard, and what insights do they offer? Our journalist conducted an in-depth investigation.

Planning Broad-Scale Investment with a Grand Vision to Enhance Problem-Solving Capabilities

The vitality of a county-level economy lies in its integration into the national unified market and global industrial chains through the free flow of factors and regional division of labor. The success of investment attraction depends on the depth and breadth of openness, as well as the ability to create high-level investment platforms. Deep integration into the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development strategy and the Jinan metropolitan area serves as a primary calling card for investment attraction across counties and districts, representing a key comparative advantage. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the city deepened its mechanisms for integrating into and serving major strategies, implementing 18 special projects for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordination on a rolling basis. This led to the start of 145 projects with investments exceeding 100 million yuan from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, with completed investments reaching 11.5 billion yuan. Additionally, 36 key projects linked to the Jinan metropolitan area saw completed investments of 15.25 billion yuan, and 476 government services were made available for cross-regional processing. In recent years, leveraging the combined advantages of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development, the Jinan metropolitan area, and the major national strategy for the Yellow River basin, Yucheng City has promoted high-level openness. It has built an open, inclusive, and vibrant development landscape, attracting a number of high-quality projects from Beijing, Tianjin, and Jinan. This year, it has signed 29 new projects, commenced 26 projects, and has 136 projects under negotiation. Currently, the key to successful investment attraction is first to grasp the broader situation and attract major businesses. This means actively integrating into national and provincial major strategies, seizing policy opportunities, and achieving a rise through strategic positioning and alignment. Dezhou Tianqu New Area has proactively integrated into the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development strategy by actively undertaking the transfer of non-capital functions from Beijing. It successfully attracted key projects from Youyan, such as large-size silicon wafers for integrated circuits and high-purity sputtering targets, forming a micro-cluster for the integrated circuit industry encompassing design, materials, packaging, and testing. Relying on the "National Engineering Research Center for Key Materials of Integrated Circuits" from China Youyan Technology Group, it has built a base for key integrated circuit materials, positioning Dezhou's silicon materials industry at the forefront domestically. The city's leadership has explicitly stated the need to deepen integration into national and provincial major strategies for tangible results, to become a provincial bridgehead for deeper engagement with Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, to implement the major national strategy for the Yellow River basin thoroughly, and to actively serve and integrate into provincial-level strategies like the Jinan metropolitan area. Looking ahead, for county-level economies to make a strong breakthrough, they must focus on the critical point of "capitalizing on strategic opportunities," planning broad-scale investment with a grand vision, and continuously enhancing their ability to overcome challenges.

Attracting Central Enterprises and Strong Companies to Foster a Favorable Industrial Ecosystem

The process of county-level economic development in Dezhou is also one of continuously attracting central enterprises and strong companies to build major projects. In recent years, counties and districts have consistently brought in large-scale, high-tech, and promising projects, such as the Qilu Pharmaceutical Pharmaceutical Industrial Park, Huachuang Rongsheng, and the production base of Anjoy Food (Shandong). These projects have injected strong momentum into Dezhou's industrial transformation and upgrading, driving high-quality development. Attracting such major projects is no easy task. Take the example of Laoling City's successful bid for the Anjoy Food (Shandong) production base. In 2021, Laoling formed a specialized "project service group" involving 11 departments and 31 people. They prepared a 38-page service plan and thoughtfully calculated the costs for Anjoy Food. For a planned annual production of 130,000 tons of quick-frozen food, locating in Laoling's food industrial park would save at least 13 million yuan per year in water, steam, and raw material supply costs. This impressed the leadership of the Anjoy Food Group, ultimately leading to the project being settled in Laoling. While a favorable business environment is fundamental, major projects place greater emphasis on regional industrial supporting capabilities and high industrial growth potential. Linyi County successfully attracted a 1-billion-yuan petroleum engineering pilot testing platform project from Sinopec Petroleum Engineering Scientific Research and Testing Technology Co., Ltd. The investor was attracted by Linyi's established petroleum industry base and deep-rooted petroleum engineering expertise. Pingyuan County successfully brought in Zhejiang Lianhua Technology Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Xinyi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Holding Co., Ltd., because local pharmaceutical companies possess core resources that enable mutually beneficial development. A strong business environment is the brand for investment attraction, but a healthy industrial ecosystem is the foundation for attracting major projects. This includes not only well-developed industrial chains, excellent infrastructure, and superior transportation and location advantages but also creating an atmosphere of respect for businesses, fostering a pragmatic and efficient government service environment, and ensuring companies can establish roots and develop with peace of mind. It is foreseeable that competition among county-level economies will continue to center on the development of large enterprises and the construction of major projects. Counties and districts should persistently optimize the industrial ecosystem, introduce strong measures, rely on major projects to rapidly form new industrial clusters, and gain an early advantage in the intense competition among county-level economies.

Innovating Mechanisms for Specialized, Precision-Based, and Park-Oriented Investment Attraction

Visiting the Lurund High-End Water Purification Equipment Industrial Park project site in Dezhou High-tech Zone, one sees a bustling construction scene. All 10 water purification equipment companies within this park are from Jinan, creating a new development model where "landing one project attracts an entire industrial chain." This injects new momentum into the high-end equipment manufacturing cluster in Yucheng. Yucheng successfully attracted the Lurund High-End Water Purification Equipment Industrial Park project by employing a new model of specialized, park-oriented, and precision-based investment attraction. Currently, with intense regional development competition, investment attraction faces new situations and challenges, necessitating the study of new mechanisms and methods. The most important aspect is to change the extensive model of investment attraction, improve the level of professional and scientific investment attraction, and let professionals handle professional tasks. In the first half of this year, Dezhou City successively held 25 industry chain supply and demand matchmaking events and regional industry exhibitions, including the Dezhou City AI + Warehousing and Logistics Application Field Exchange Meeting, the Dezhou City High-End Equipment + High-End Chemical Industry Chain Integration and Supply Chain Connection Meeting (Jingjin Equipment Special Session), and the 2026 Ningjin Fitness Equipment Exhibition, covering over 500 enterprises. Building on this, the city has collaborated with leading chain enterprises and specialized and new "little giant" enterprises to hold targeted, small-scale, and frequent matchmaking activities. Chain-based investment attraction is a precise and efficient method. At the city level, Dezhou has precisely laid out 11 signature industrial chains, including next-generation information technology, high-end equipment, high-end chemicals, food processing, sports, and new energy. At the county level, each area focuses on specific strengths to carefully build its signature industrial chains and expand distinctive industry clusters. Qihe County adheres to a "one chain, one policy" approach, focusing on the equipment manufacturing industry. It is accelerating the construction of key projects like Baoding Equipment and Ruite CNC, promoting the extension and aggregation of manufacturing enterprises like Chuangjie Robotics and Liwei Microwave, and aiming to push the industry's output value beyond 10 billion yuan. It is also speeding up the construction of projects like Liansi Sensors and Forefront Bio to expand the information technology industry, create future industry clusters, and cultivate new economic growth points. In terms of specific investment strategies, counties and districts have increased their exploration efforts, forming several effective new methods and mechanisms. For example, to precisely match with high-quality resources, Decheng District has improved its project attraction mechanism, constructing a "Three Libraries, Two Maps" comprehensive service system for investment. This involves establishing a "talent and space resource library, key promotion project library, key project reserve library, investment attraction grid map, and industry chain map" to thoroughly sort out the district's investment resources and fully promote investment attraction and development. Effectively carrying out investment attraction work is vital for strengthening the county-level economy. Looking to the future, only by persistently focusing on "capitalizing on strategic opportunities," working tirelessly on "building the industrial ecosystem," and daring to be pioneers in "innovating investment attraction mechanisms" can counties and districts gain a high ground and seize the initiative in the fierce regional competition.