Independent innovation is crucial for China's power transmission and control industry to become strong and narrow the gap with developed countries, experts said.

The industry is in a slow-growth period, which is a good opportunity for companies to focus more on improving their research and development capabilities, they said.

According to statistics provided by China General Machine Component Industry Association, total revenue in the general machine component sector - mostly drive parts - grew by 6.4 percent last year compared with 2011.