Chengdu Special: Zone of influence

Chengdu in Southwest China's Sichuan province aims to take the lead in the next-generation IT industry and is focusing on the emerging mobile Internet sector.

Officials at Chengdu High-tech Zone said the IT industry is becoming smarter and more mobile, powered by the vigorous development of computing power, integrated circuit technology and broadband wireless communications technology.

As the mobile Internet will have a profound impact on our lives in the next two decades, China has put it at the core of its new-generation information industry, which is one of the strategic emerging industries identified in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015).

As part of the national strategy, the Chengdu High-tech Zone released its own plan for the industry last month.

The plan, which aims to develop the zone into one of the country's premier sites for the mobile Internet industry, highlights that the zone is expected to be home to more than 1,000 companies and firms involved in the sector by 2017.

After years of development, the Chengdu High-tech Zone has achieved significant progress in the mobile Internet industry, the zone's officials said.

It has a competitive strength in both equipment manufacturing and technological R&D.

But to realize this objective, the zone's authorities said they will work alongside renowned experts at home and abroad to conduct further research on the industry and future technology.

The zone's administration committee aims to secure the financial and policy support of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Sichuan provincial government and Chengdu city government in its bid to become a locus with international influence.

According to the officials, aside from setting aside a special fund for the development of the mobile Internet industry, the zone will facilitate technology transfer and information exchanges.

At the beginning, the fund will be 1 billion yuan ($159 million) but it will increase every year. It will mainly be used for the introduction of key projects, the nurturing of advantageous and promising enterprises, the improvement of public services for enterprises and the introduction of talented people.

The officials said they will cooperate with well-known consulting firms and intermediary agencies to introduce talent and they will provide help so their children attend desirable schools and their spouses find jobs.

The zone will also encourage private funds to invest in the sector, the officials said.

Sound basis

Chengdu is deemed one of the Chinese cities most suitable for the development of the mobile Internet industry.

It has been designated by the central government as Southwest China's telecommunications hub. It is the country's fourth-largest hub, next to Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, for communications technology research and development.

The zone is home to more than 90 percent of the mobile Internet companies in Chengdu.

More than 150 firms in the zone are fully engaged in the mobile Internet business. Almost all the firms in the zone are located in Chengdu Hi-tech Innovation Park, Tianfu Software Park and Tianfu Valley.

The zone has a number of mobile Internet services and content providers, including some domestically renowned companies with competitive strength in mobile games and applications software development, zone officials said.

In addition, the zone has easy access to technological and personnel support from local universities and research institutions.

For instance the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China and other higher learning institutions based in Chengdu have a steady stream of human resources to back the development of the mobile Internet industry.

The Chengdu High-tech Zone is one of the earliest State-level high-tech zones approved by the central government.

According to a rating of 88 high-tech zones by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Chengdu zone ranks fourth in terms of comprehensive strength, second in terms of sustainable development and third in terms of industrialization and economic scale.

Li Yu contributed to this story

huangzhiling@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 07/28/2012 page9)