Jining's smart thinking puts IT at core of future growth

It is not by chance that American IT giants Hewlett-Packard and Oracle Corporation both built their international software talent training centers in Jining, a third-tier city in Shandong province.

"With a sound business and scientific research environment, Jining has transformed into an investment hot spot for information technology and service industries from being heavily dependant on coal-related industries," said Ma Pingchang, Party chief of the city.

The city is now home to 76 information technology and service companies, which generated combined operating revenue of 25.1 billion yuan ($4.08 billion) last year.

Statistics from the city's investment promotion office show that 40 of the Fortune Global 500 multinational corporations have established branches in Jining, most of which are involved in high-tech and information sectors.

In July 2013, HP signed an agreement with the local government to invest $2 billion building an international software talent training center, software developing and testing facilities and an IT resource service base in the Jining National High-tech Industrial Development Zone.

When completed, the project will train up to 10,000 IT professionals each year and is expected to make annual sales revenues of more than 100 billion yuan.

Following HP's step, Oracle Corporation, the world's top software and information service supplier, also decided to build its talent cultivating center in Jining, the company's first on the Chinese mainland.

"Jining's strategy of nurturing talent and the city's platforms for research and development convince us of the city's potential for talent training," Cheng Xing, senior manager of Oracle (China) Software Systems, said in the project signing ceremony on July 29. The city has a range of favorable policies in place for introducing talented people, including tax reductions, preferential loans, subsidies for business startups, and human resources support.

It has attracted more than 1,000 high-end talent, including 21 foreign creative professionals and 11 experts from China's Thousand Talent Program, the central government's initiative to attract professionals from overseas.

Meanwhile, 1.5 billion yuan has been allocated by the local government to establish more than 60 public software service platforms and technological incubation centers which provide great technical support to investors.

Investment from some of the world's IT giants has attracted a raft of competitive companies in related information sectors to settle in the city.

Sogou Inc, China's leading online search engine company, and ZTE Corporation, one of the largest listed telecommunication equipment company in the country, are examples. A high-tech park, backed by a 3.5-billion-yuan investment from ZTE Corp, is under construction. It is expected to generate more than 10 billion yuan in revenue.

Contact the writers at juchuanjiang@chinadaily.com.cn and wangqian2@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 12/04/2014 page12)