When the catastrophic "September 1st" rainstorm struck, a drone rescue video from Cangnan captured millions of views. Two heavy-lift drones, each capable of carrying 100 kilograms, sliced through the rain to deliver bottled water, congee, and boxed meals in sequence. Within just a few hours, nearly 200 drone sorties had airlifted 11.3 tons of essential supplies. Technology has extended the reach of rescue efforts, and this capability is a direct result of Cangnan's deep investment in the low-altitude economy sector in recent years.
This episode offers a glimpse into the broader transformation underway in Cangnan's private economy. As traditional industries wade into the deep waters of transformation and the old playbook of low-cost, large-scale expansion reaches its limits, the question becomes: what comes next? By pushing traditional industries to innovate from within, enabling emerging sectors to break outward, and reinforcing the business environment with robust support systems, Cangnan is steadfastly implementing its "industrial powerhouse" strategy, searching for a new growth logic amidst the throes of transition.
Breaking Through From Within: Redefining Traditional Industries
Woven bags, packaging film, and dairy products—these "conventional trades" in the public eye are the very foundation upon which Cangnan's private economy was built. Yet, clinging to old products and outdated methods only leads to a race to the bottom. For local private enterprises in Cangnan, the path to internal breakthrough lies in leveraging technology, digitalization, and supply chain restructuring to breathe new life into legacy industries.
This year, Cangnan's plastics industry is racing toward a production value of 10 billion yuan. At Wenzhou Detai Plastics, intelligent production lines have replaced the semi-automated assembly lines of the past. "Sticking to low-end woven bags leaves razor-thin profit margins," admits the company's head. Detai has poured nearly 90 million yuan into upgrading its production lines, committing over 5% of its annual output value to R&D every year. The company now holds eight patents, with patent-related revenue accounting for 30% of its total output. Its products have entered the supply chains of Dow Chemical and Sinopec, reaching more than 50 countries and regions worldwide.
This is not the solitary struggle of one enterprise. The county is home to over 600 plastics-related companies, with the total output value of regulated enterprises reaching 9.5 billion yuan in 2025, representing more than a quarter of Cangnan's entire regulated industrial output. By intensifying innovation support for the industry, Cangnan has nurtured 40 high-tech enterprises, transforming the sector from a model of "selling 1 yuan of raw materials for 2 yuan" to one where "1 yuan of raw materials generates 10 yuan in added value." This internal metamorphosis earned the industry recognition as a typical case of fostering new quality productive forces in traditional sectors by Zhejiang Province in 2025.
The dairy industry is undergoing a similar evolution. By the end of 2025, the total output value of the entire industry chain had reached 4.2 billion yuan. Three leading chain enterprises—Shengmana, Baifei, and Panda Dairy—support the processing segment, but they have long grappled with the bottleneck of "strong processing, weak milk supply." Change, however, is on the horizon. The Baifei dairy buffalo breeding base project in Mazhan Town is accelerating, poised to house 450 dairy buffalo once operational. "Previously, our milk sources relied entirely on external purchases, leaving the supply chain in someone else's hands," the project lead explains. With the successive launch of projects like the Baifei Mazhan base and the Olive Valley planting-breeding complex, Cangnan's local dairy livestock inventory is set to leap from zero to 10,000 head. Concurrently, Cangnan is leveraging an "enterprise + cooperative + farmer" model to roll out contract farming of silage corn and wheat, creating a closed loop that spans forage, breeding, and processing. Cangnan's objective is clear: systematically build six key chains—R&D innovation, raw material supply, ancillary services, cold-chain logistics, commercial markets, and tertiary industry integration—with the goal of surpassing 10 billion yuan in total output value for the entire dairy industry chain by 2028.
Breaking Outward: Grounded Emerging Industries
The greatest risk in cultivating emerging industries is that concepts stay hot while the industries themselves remain ungrounded. Cangnan adheres to a dual approach of attraction and cultivation, centering on clean energy and the low-altitude economy while concurrently mapping out new tracks such as artificial intelligence and digital RFID. The focus is on nurturing tangible industrial growth through concrete projects and real-world scenarios.
Clean energy stands as the hard-core pillar of Cangnan's emerging industries. The county has attracted over 200 billion yuan in project investments, with a total installed capacity approaching 13 million kilowatts, shouldering nearly half of Wenzhou's non-fossil energy installation tasks during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. In 2025, the output value of clean energy and related industries hit 7.143 billion yuan, boasting an average annual growth rate exceeding 120%, with expectations to break the 10 billion yuan mark this year.
The energy sector has traditionally been dominated by state-owned enterprises, but Cangnan has boldly introduced private capital. For instance, the private enterprise shareholding in the second phase of the San'ao Nuclear Power project has risen to 10%. Envision Energy has made a full investment in Cangnan's No. 3 and No. 5 offshore wind power projects, totaling 21.1 billion yuan. An official from the Cangnan County Development and Reform Bureau reports that Unit 1 of the San'ao Nuclear Power plant has officially entered commercial operation, and a million-kilowatt-class offshore wind power base has taken shape. With the landing of physical projects like the Envision wind turbine manufacturing park and the Tongguang high-end cable facility, and the accelerated planning of nuclear energy comprehensive utilization and offshore wind technology innovation bases, the industry chain is progressively shifting from mere power generation to higher-value-added segments such as equipment manufacturing and operations maintenance R&D.
The low-altitude economy, by contrast, serves as a living sample of "scenario application." The drone supply drops during the early September flood rescue were a real-world test of the industry's capabilities. "We aren't rushing to chase scale; our priority is to solidify the infrastructure and application scenarios," says Lin Yuezhu, director of the Low-Altitude Economy Development Center under the Cangnan County Transportation Bureau. The county has established a low-altitude facility network comprising "one hub, five centers, and 45 takeoff and landing points," and has launched seven cultural tourism routes, including one cross-provincial route linking Zhejiang and Fujian.
Manufacturing enterprises such as Fengfei Aviation and Guangyang Technology have successively established operations in the Low-Altitude Digital Valley. Since last year, the county has added 22 new low-altitude-related companies. Multiple scenarios—power line inspections, agricultural and forestry plant protection, offshore wind power material delivery, medical rescue, and cultural tourism—are now fully operational. Shanggu Agricultural Technology provides drone-based farming services across the county, completing 400,000 mu-times of plant protection operations annually. The power sector conducted over 4,000 drone inspections last year. A maritime ton-class drone transport test even attracted coverage from CCTV. Additionally, the Cangnan Golden Coast Rescue Center has introduced long-endurance maritime search-and-rescue drones, achieving an efficiency roughly equivalent to five speedboats.
Deep Support: An Environment That Works
The quality of a business environment isn't measured by the number of documents issued, but by whether support services can keep pace when companies encounter challenges. Cangnan works on two fronts: safeguarding its "sweet potato economy" of outgoing enterprises while nurturing local businesses, ensuring that policies don't remain mere words on paper.
Cangnan's mining and well-drilling enterprises operate globally, with 43 companies headquartered back in the county, radiating to over a thousand overseas project sites. For these companies venturing abroad, overseas risks, legal rights protection, and equipment procurement are pressing concerns. Launched by the Cangnan County Public Security Bureau at the end of 2025, the "Canghai Luopan" digital platform was tailor-made for these international enterprises. The platform features eight modules covering overseas risk warnings, anti-fraud, intellectual property protection, and equipment procurement, offering a comprehensive map of overseas risks and a one-click channel for submitting enterprise appeals. As of the first half of this year, the platform has served 13 overseas projects, helping enterprises mitigate losses exceeding 7 million yuan and saving 6.63 million yuan in equipment procurement costs.
While safeguarding the external "sweet potato economy," Cangnan also cultivates its local soil. The county continues to expand its incubator cluster: the Low-Altitude Digital Valley industry platform now gathers 46 enterprises, including innovative firms like Zongfei Hengkong and Yufan Technology, attracting nearly 700 professionals and achieving an annual output value exceeding 500 million yuan. The Southern Zhejiang Digital Valley has been completed and put into use, housing 88 enterprises and ranking second in the city for active online stores. The Cangnan Online Merchandise Selection Center has been included on the provincial list. The "Qingcunji" provincial-level modern agricultural innovation park, open for less than a year, has already attracted 51 enterprises and 748 young professionals, driving 3,500 young people to participate in rural practices.
To address the weakness in R&D capabilities among private enterprises, Cangnan has dispatched 36 technology deputies to work within companies. They have completed 25 technical breakthroughs, cracking a series of tricky "bottleneck" problems and assisting enterprises in establishing 16 municipal-level or higher R&D institutions. Resource guarantees are equally tangible. From January to August this year, Cangnan secured 767 mu of industrial land and cleared 978 mu of approved-but-unallocated land. In the first half of this year, the county secured 576 million yuan from "two major" and "two new" project funds, 48 million yuan in central budget funds, 3.74 billion yuan in local government bond funds, and 1.36 billion yuan from the "8+4" funding scheme—ranking first in the city.