NANJING, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping highlighted the role of innovation in economic development.

Xi made the remarks during an inspection tour in eastern Jiangsu Province where he visited scientific research institutions, enterprises, countryside and farmers' houses.

At Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute in Nanjing, capital city of Jiangsu, Xi said China must rely on innovation to achieve continuous and healthy economy development.

The president called for close coupling between science and technology and the economy, as well as deep integration among industry, university and research, so as to realize seamless connection between industries and science and technology, and increase the contribution rate of science and technology to economic growth.

The key to developing the economy lies in transforming the development model, restructuring the economy and upgrading the medium-to-low industrial structure to a medium-to-high one, said Xi.

He urges the establishment of new mechanism to the benefit of producing innovation fruits and converting these results to industrial applications.

The president called for boosting the competitiveness of export, creating new advantages of an open economy and expanding new room for opening up domestically and to the outside world.

During the inspection, Xi highlighted the importance of a modern agriculture, prosperous rural areas and affluent farmers in the nation's overall modernization drive.

The president also called for more efforts to provide safe, effective, convenient and inexpensive public health and basic medical services to people living in rural areas as well as those in cities.