Driving innovation in Beijing

Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, or ETown, is home to leading technology and international giants, Wang Sujuan and Fu Chao report.

The Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, or ETown, is now a major innovative and technological engine for the capital city.

In the southeast of Beijing, ETown is home to a cluster of flourishing technology and manufacturing enterprises as well as a range of services including R&D, human resources and financing.

Success stories

One of the seminal businesses is Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, known as SMIC and the nation's leader in the integrated circuit industry.

Its most famous achievement is development of the first production line on the Chinese mainland for 28 nanometer chips. Most chips used in different fields in the nation today are "made in ETown".

An industrial chain for integrated circuits has now formed in ETown, including a research center for advanced technology, a national investment fund and academic institutions.

About eight years ago, a 42-inch LCD TV cost more than 10,000 yuan ($1,632). Today it only costs about 2,000 yuan. Mass production of high-quality display screens from BOE Technology Group Co in ETown led the breakthrough.

In 2011, it rolled out the nation's first self-designed and advanced LCD panels and built production line for it.

The country's LCD display screens larger than 40 inches now no longer need to rely on imported components. It also changed the global landscape in the display industry.

German chemical and pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG has also set up a plant in Beijing ETown with the goal of making its operation there the largest for prescription medicine in the Asia-Pacific region by the end of 2016.

Many other pharmaceutical companies that produce innovative technologies are also gathered in ETown.

The German manufacturer Daimler-Benz AG, maker of the famed Mercedes-Benz automobile, has its only overseas engine plant in ETown.

After the plant went into operation, all the Mercedes vehicles produced in the nation are powered by engines made in ETown. Plans call for engines made at plant to also be exported overseas.

An R&D center for Beijing Benz Automotive Co will go into operation by the end of this year.

The auto industry in the ETown includes a range of Fortune 500 companies and famed auto parts companies.

It is also home to China's first cloud computing base and several hundred e-commerce enterprises including JD.com, the second-largest shopping portal in China.

From January to October last year, the growth rate in e-commerce in Beijing hit 44.9 percent, for the first time surpassed traditional retailing in growth.

Sales generated by e-commerce companies in ETown account for 40 percent of the total in Beijing.

Developed services

"Our ethos for developing service systems is that we provide everything in infrastructure and they only need to bring their ideas to the ETown," said an official from its committee office.

A series of policy measures are the backbone for services, covering a total of 10 issues including technological innovation, funding and employment.

In innovation alone, the local government has invested 1 billion yuan.

Beijing ETown has developed more than 20 public service projects for human resource recruitment, R&D and transforming technology into capital.

It is also home to more than 10 incubators for technology enterprises, over 300 R&D centers and more than 160 academic organizations. The rate of turning technology into capital has surpassed 80 percent, topping most of technology parks in the country.

ETown has also come up with a range of talent recruitment and reward programs that offer services for both everyday life and work.

Some 3,000 overseas professionals have now started businesses in the park and some 1,000 PhD holders are working in industrial restructuring.

According to data from the local government, by 2015 the total number of employees at ETown will reach 320,000.

To make good ideas work, high-quality human resources are not enough, said the park administrators. It needs capital to fuel the development.

Beijing ETown has set up a comprehensive financial service system in which the local government acts as a bridge to facilitate cooperation between enterprises and financing organizations.

It has the city's first "financing supermarket" where enterprises can get a range of financing services.

ETown has also established eight funds so far, providing more than 8 billion yuan to 50 companies.

To date, it also attracted an investment of over 50 billion yuan from the private sector.

Contact the writers at wangsujuan@chinadaily.com.cn and fuchao@chinadaily.com.cn