Haidian district wired for success

Continued growth and innovation at the high-tech hub in Beijing, Fu Chao reports.

Haidian district, home to the renowned Zhongguancun high-tech area, enjoyed a robust year in innovation as emerging industries made further progress and facilities were improved to help fuel startup companies, IP development and financing services.

Emerging industries

The district has now formed a mature industrial chain for mobile Internet software and hardware. It is home to more than 4,000 companies in the field including Lenovo, Baidu and LeTV.

The mobile Internet industry covers six major areas - equipment, operations and management, information security, terminals and related equipment, applications and big data.

Revenues in the industry are expected to reach 400 billion yuan ($64 billion) in 2015, according to official projections. The district has a range of the nation's best players in cloud computing. A top talent pool and the cluster of R&D operations in the district enable companies to make ongoing contributions to the industry.

The district has stepped up efforts to develop GPS and spatial information technology, with work underway on development of major technologies and demonstration projects. This year the industry's revenue is expected to reach 45 billion yuan.

The environment protection industry now accounts for 60 percent of all the companies in Zhongguancun's innovation demonstration area. They offer a range of innovative products and homegrown brands.

Meng Jingwei, deputy director of Haidian district, said the district's GDP was 416 billion yuan last year ($66.6 billion), up 8.5 percent over the year before.

The number of emerging industries is increasing at an average annual rate of over 20 percent, said Meng.

One hub, three streets

In an effort to integrate all the innovative resources in the district, the local government has assigned different areas with distinct functions.

Shangdi is now a new hub for the IT industry with some 1,800 software and information service companies, accounting for more than 60 percent of the total in Beijing.

Industrial clusters for cloud computing, mobile Internet and IT outsourcing have been formed that are now crucial in the fields of national security, electric power, energy and many others.

Zhongguancun Software Park, also in the area, now has 277 companies, 30 of them listed. The park generated more than 140 billion yuan in revenues last year.

Meng said that by 2020, the hub will not only be a top-notch provider of software and information services to the country, but also a residential area with an advanced living environment. For startup companies, Zhongguancun entrepreneur street is designed to be Haidian's answer to Silicon Valley. The street's 16 mostly private service organizations that assist in innovation have incubating 339 business groups.

The organizations offer entrepreneurs office space, connections and advice on investment and funding, business consultancy, corporate culture development and training. Meng said it is a place where grassroots business dreamers can find the right connections, money, markets and business circles.

He added that the district government is still working on improving facilities to offer a better business environment and will come up with more policy support in the future.

The district also has an area with a cluster of organizations dedicated to dealing with intellectual property issues. They include agencies, asset evaluation organizations and consultancies.

Together with the municipal government, the local government has regulations to support IP protection and development. It also set up the country's first fund and industry association to offer support and IP services to business groups. In November 2014, the Beijing IP court was founded in Haidian district, a major move in IP protection for the district.

Among the more than 600 IP service organizations in the district, 124 are agencies, some 46 percent of the total in the city and 12 percent in the nation.The district also has a financial street to aid in development of innovation. The cluster has some 2,300 financial organizations with combined capital of more than 220 billion yuan. In addition, the new trend in online finance is also booming in the area. It is home to some 200 online financial organizations including Lakala, China's largest provider of community financial and e-commerce services.

(China Daily 03/05/2015 page7)