Zhongguancun Science Park leads capital, country on path of innovation

As a flagship project, Zhongguancun Science Park has become an important engine of Beijing's high-quality development and a key source of Chinese innovation.

Over the past 10 years, the science park has served the country's major strategic needs, strengthened the implementation of its innovation-driven development strategy, and explored new ways to combine science and technology with the economy.

Its capacity for independent innovation has been significantly improved, and the new economy and new forms of business have developed, supporting Beijing to build itself into an international sci-tech innovation hub.

Since 2012, the science park, with the help of the Ministry of Science and Technology, has proposed 24 major reforms focusing on empowering innovators, gathering innovation resources and optimizing innovation mechanisms.

It has also issued a series of pilot policies, such as 20 new policies for Zhongguancun international talent, and plans to promote the transformation of sci-tech achievements of universities and State-owned enterprises in Beijing.

The science park also led the country in introducing preferential income tax policies for corporate venture capital institutions, as well as setting up private banks, carrying out foreign exchange management for enterprises' overseas mergers and acquisitions, building biomedical national inspection pilot areas, and strengthening high-value patents.

So far, more than 30 pilot policies have been promoted and implemented nationwide.

Zhongguancun has taken the lead in launching the reform of "application and approval at the same time" for the recognition of high-tech companies, which cut waiting times by more than 80 percent.

In the past decade, the science park has reinforced the research of basic and core technologies. It has witnessed several breakthroughs in cutting-edge technological fields, like the world's first 96-core blockchain dedicated acceleration chip, a long-life superconducting qubit chip with the decoherence time exceeding 500 microseconds, and the world's largest artificial intelligence model "Enlightenment 2.0", of which the parameter scale reaches 1.75 trillion.

Three technologies, including the ultrahigh precision positioning technology developed by the Aerospace Information Research Institute, and TikTok's recommendation algorithms released by ByteDance, were included in the list of the "10 breakthrough technologies 2021" by MIT Technology Review.

The science park has produced a number of key technological achievements that can replace imported goods or fill gaps in the domestic market, such as Chang'an Chain, the first independent and controllable blockchain software and hardware technology system in China.

Also, a batch of Zhongguancun companies engaging in industries such as new display, artificial intelligence, robots and new materials proactively participated in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, with dazzling scientific and technological achievements provided for the event.

Behind the opening ceremony and exciting competitions of the sports gathering was ubiquitous sci-tech innovation. It is considered a valuable wealth of the Olympics and also crucial for Beijing to promote the construction of a sci-tech innovation hub and realize high-quality development.

To realize these sci-tech outcomes, companies in Zhongguancun Science Park have increased research and development expenditures from 98.33 billion yuan ($13.93 billion) in 2012 to 460 billion yuan in 2021, accounting for 3.9 percent and 5.5 percent of their total annual revenue, respectively.

Moreover, patent authorization, invention patent ownership and international patent applications filed via the Patent Cooperation Treaty have all increased by more than four times in the science park.

To boost high-quality development, Zhongguancun has highlighted the cultivation of state-of-the-art technologies. It has also built independent, controllable, safe and efficient supply chains and industrial chains during the past decade.

The total revenue of its electronic information companies, for example, has quadrupled. It increased from 894.15 billion yuan in 2012 to 4.3 trillion yuan in 2021. Also, the comprehensive strength of the artificial intelligence industry ranks among the best in the world. Big data and information security both have the largest market shares in China. The science park has also gathered more than 1,600 biomedical enterprises.

An advanced manufacturing industrial cluster has taken shape in the park, gathering nearly 2,000 related enterprises such as BOE Technology and Beiqi Foton Motor.

Over the past five years, Zhongguancun has annually added more than 25,000 new sci-tech companies.

In 2021, the science park was home to 4,106 enterprises each with an annual income reaching 100 million yuan. This included eight each with an annual income exceeding 100 billion yuan.

In that same year, 10 companies in the park were included in the Fortune Global 500 list; seven companies were named by Brand Finance among the world's top 100 valuable sci-tech brands; and 28 listed companies made the Forbes Global 2000 list.

By the end of 2021, the science park boasted a total of 457 listed companies and 102 unicorn companies, including four "super unicorns" each with a valuation exceeding $10 billion.

To contribute to China's carbon peak and neutrality targets, the science park has formulated a fiveyear action plan for green development. It has also set up special funds for the construction of ecological and smart parks, as well as for the demonstration and application of new technologies and new products.

In the past decade, the park has speeded up the upgrading of innovation and entrepreneurship services. It now has more than 200 business incubators, including 66 national ones for sci-tech startups, and 147 registered makerspaces, both ranking first in China.

The park has also promoted international innovation cooperation via higher-level opening-up. It gathered more than 300 regional headquarters and R&D centers of multinational companies; attracted over 130 Fortune Global 500 companies to set up branches; and built 19 offices in Silicon Valley, London and other places overseas.

As for domestic cooperation, the park has achieved fruitful progress in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integrated development, and cross-regional collaborative innovation.

By 2021, Zhongguancun enterprises had set up 9,032 branches in Tianjin and Hebei regions. It also established strategic cooperative relations with 76 areas in 26 Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.