When it comes to tech hubs in China, people often think of big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. But in recent years the inland city of Hefei in eastern China has also gained a strong reputation for being home to some of the world's leading science and tech innovations. CGTN's Xu Mengqi reports.

From artificial intelligence to speech recognition and processing, today's top technologies are fast becoming the norm.

And in China, iflytek is considered an industry leader. But this tech company, which boasts more than 10,000 employees, isn't headquartered in China's big coastal cities. It's here in Hefei, capital of the inland province of Anhui.

HU YU ROTATING PRESIDENT, IFLYTEK CO. "Ifytek's founders all graduated from the University of Science and Technology of China, located here in Hefei. This university is a talent pool which makes the birth of a lot of high-tech ideas possible."

Home to several prominent universities and research institutes, as well as a national science center, Hefei has made technological innovation a key priority. Collaboration between academia and the industry has become common. Lyu Xiangdong, founder of a company specializing in computer chips, an industry now emerging in Hefei, recently achieved a breakthrough thanks to working with local universities.

LYU XIANGDONG, FOUNDER HENGSHUO SEMICONDUCTOR CO. "Under the current structure of our memory chips, we cannot make it store memory and compute at the same time. But after two years of working with schools in Hefei on fundamental research, we finally were able to change that."

For tech entrepreneurs, Hefei's appeal extends even further than its research capability.

WAN XIAOCHUN, DIRECTOR ANHUI PROVINCIAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT "We have come up with policies that cover the whole chain of technology innovation, including introduction of talent, collaboration between industry and academia, and the protection and application of intellectual property rights."

HU YU ROTATING PRESIDENT, IFLYTEK CO. "Hefei and Anhui have created high-tech parks and platforms that really stand out in east China. I think this has driven the development of the high-tech industry here."

Hefei may not be on a par with Shenzhen or Shanghai. But with strong research resources, ample funding, and favorable policies, it might just become China's next hub for innovation.