Favorable policies and funding for software industry development
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Panoramic view of Nanjing, a splendid city along the Yangtze River and one of the historic capitals of China. |
Development of the software industry has been a high priority for Nanjing - one that paid off when the city was named among the nation's "Famous Software Cities" in September 2010 next to only Beijing and Shenzhen.
Nanjing now has 938 software companies that generated combined sales revenue of 100 billion yuan ($15.2 billion) last year, making a big contribution to the GDP of the city.
In 2000, the city government made a 10-year plan for the software industry and then built the Nanjing Software Park and a cluster of others including Jiangning, Xuanwu, Yuhua, Gulou and Pukou, all of which are now home to over 90 percent of the city's software companies.
Each of them tends to specialize, but together they address a variety of applications including power grid automation, telecommunications, computer animation, intelligent transportation systems, circuit design, outsourcing, Internet security and systems software. The swift uptake of these revenue-generating hot spots has boosted both regional and national economies.
A number of enterprises have now flourished, including ZTEsoft, Nandasoft, Liandi Information Systems Co Ltd, Focus Technology Co Ltd, Cmodes Software Integration Co Ltd, Nanjing Sample Technology Group Co Ltd, Linkage Technology Co Ltd, Oracle and Sinosoft Technology.
The robust software industry is backed up by strong support through government policies and funding.
Each year from 2008 to 2010, the Nanjing government committed at least 1 billion yuan to the software industry, a level of support that indicates how determined it is to make the software industry its hallmark.
City government has now laid out new prospects for software development in the 12th Five Year Plan (2011-2015) period.
"We will stick to the development mode of innovation by giving more support to enterprises and companies engaged in the development of operational systems, databases and related areas," said Luo Qun, vice-mayor of Nanjing.
He added that the city will provide incentives to attract high-caliber professionals from all over the world.
By the end of 2015, plans call for 2,200 software enterprises that together have more than a million employees.
It is expected that by the end of the 12th Five Year Plan period, the city's software sales revenue will reach 400 billion yuan.
(China Daily 06/01/2011 page39)
