Chengdu comes up with a winning game plan

When it comes to innovation and ideas, Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, might not spring immediately to mind. But this second-tier city in Southwest China is becoming a major center for startups.

It was already a crucial high-tech manufacturing hub for multinationals such as Hitachi Ltd, the tech conglomerate based in Japan, Bayer AG, the chemical and pharmaceutical company based in Germany, and Intel Corp, the tech giant based in the United States.

But now it is bringing in fledgling firms. The city has added more than 900 tech startups each month since January, according to local news portal newssc.org.