Chongqing Calls for Seventh Batch of Design-Driven Enterprise Pool Solicitation, Propelling Manufacturing Into a New Era of Smart, Quality, and Creative Production

Design is powering Chongqing's manufacturing upgrade, and the city is making its move. On October 13, the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology launched the seventh solicitation for its Design-Driven Enterprise Pool. By regularly selecting and nurturing demonstration enterprises through a tiered approach, Chongqing aims to expand its industrial design innovation network and embed design thinking into industrial innovation, product upgrading, and brand building across the board.

Chongqing's growing design talent pool is powering the city's manufacturing sector toward a smarter, higher-quality, and more creative future. The Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology said the solicitation is open to manufacturing enterprises with active operations in the city, professional industrial design firms, universities, and research institutions, bringing together innovators from industry, design, and academia.

On eligibility criteria, the solicitation imposes three mandatory thresholds. Applicant enterprises must have stable design investment and proven industrialization capacity, with at least two design achievements industrialized over the past two years and no fewer than five authorized patents or copyrights. They must also operate a dedicated design department or maintain a stable design team, and actively engage in industry co-building by organizing or participating in industrial design exchanges, evaluation and training sessions, and industry promotion activities.

“Industrial design is a key lever for making manufacturing better and more efficient and for building new quality productive forces,” said an official from the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology. In recent years, Chongqing has developed a three-tier cultivation framework, namely, the Design-Driven Enterprise Pool, municipal-level industrial design centers, and national-level industrial design centers, creating a comprehensive system that supports manufacturers, professional design institutions, and university research platforms.

To date, the city has cultivated and enrolled more than 560 design-driven enterprises, established 272 municipal-level industrial design centers and 11 national-level ones, and attracted nearly 60,000 industrial design professionals along with over 1,500 related market players, covering sectors from auto and motorcycle manufacturing to intelligent equipment and light industry consumer goods. A large number of these enterprises have relied on design innovation to crack product homogenization, broaden market reach, and raise product added value, emerging as a driving force behind Chongqing's manufacturing transformation and upgrading.

Take Chongqing ARTOP Yuli Technology, the city's first national-level industrial design center, as an example. It utilizes big data and smart tech to deliver end-to-end design solutions for industrial chain companies, helping businesses like Duanji Western Suits upgrade products and reinvent their brands. Another standout is Chongqing Dusai Technology, a specialist in auto and motorcycle design. By bringing cutting-edge concepts like wind tunnel simulation and ergonomics into whole-vehicle development, it has completed over 1,000 design projects and provided vehicle design solutions for brands such as Zonsen, propelling high-end and new energy motorcycles "Made in Chongqing" onto the world stage.

Source: Chongqing Daily