CHENGDU: Sponsored by the Chengdu municipal government in this capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, the 2nd Chengdu International Digital Entertainment Week will be held in the Chengdu Science and Technology Street in the city's Wuhou District from September 1 to 14.

A forum discussing the development trends of China's digital entertainment sector, an e-game competition drawing competitors from South Korea and Russia, a display of famous digital products, an animation and cartoon design competition and an excellent animation and cartoon exhibition will be held, said Zheng Heping, deputy secretary-general of the Chengdu municipal government.

Hosting the digital entertainment week is an attempt to advance the software sector in Chengdu, he said.

With the boom in computers and the Internet, in 2003, the Chengdu municipal government decided to take full advantage of its scientific and technological personnel to establish a software sector as a pillar industry.

A traditional electronic industrial base in China, Chengdu is an important educational and scientific research center in the country. It has 33 institutions of higher learning and 70 scientific research institutes feeding its talent pool. The city has some 630,000 scientists and technicians, the most in western China.

Thanks to the large talent pool and government support, Chengdu has become one of the leaders of the software industry in China. Last year, sales in this area amounted to 18 billion yuan (US$2.4 billion) and its software exports surpassed US$200 million.

Decision-makers in Chengdu have decided to give priority to the development of industrial application software, embedded software, digital entertainment, information security, software outsourcing and integrated circuit design.

Zheng says by 2010 the city hopes its software sales will reach 80 billion yuan (nearly US$11 billion) and exports of its software outsourcing to surpass US$500 million.