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The new Intelligent Manufacturing Way, or I-M-WAY - a 380-meter-long avenue located in Zhongguancun Science Park in Beijing's Haidian district - is aiming to become a landmark for intelligent manufacturing and boost the transformation and upgrading of China's traditional manufacturing industry.
Its creation also echoes the Made in China 2025 initiative, a 10-year program that aims to transform China from being a manufacturing giant into a world manufacturing power.
As the country's tech hub, Zhongguancun has gathered a large number of software companies and hardware retail shops.
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A woman walks past by the Intelligent Manufacturing Way in Zhongguancun, China's high-tech hub, in Beijing. Zou Hong / China Daily |
I-M-WAY, which was officially opened last month, is Zhongguancun's newest move to make a breakthrough in the intelligent manufacturing field.
"I-M-WAY provides a one-stop hardware service to help small and medium-sized high-tech companies shorten their time in developing new products," said Cheng Jing, CEO of Zhongguancun Intelligent Manufacturing Avenue.
It is different from the existing Zhongguancun Inno Way, which mainly focuses on encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation, Cheng added.
The industrial ecosystem of I-M-WAY includes seven aspects, comprising hardware production, solutions, standards and testing, innovation services, brand promotion, incubation platform and innovative enterprises. Surrounded by Peking University, Tsinghua University, Beihang University and University of Science & Technology Beijing, I-M-WAY geographically enjoys an advantageous position to attract skilled staff and technological innovation.
About 40 companies have been gathered in I-M-WAY, including G-Wearables, Trustworthy and Han Tang Zi Yuan. They are involved in many key areas of intelligent manufacturing such as internet of things, sensors, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, 3-D printing and robots.
The annual output of these companies reached more than 3 billion yuan ($450.9 million). In order to settle down at this street, enterprises must be able to offer world-leading technology and services, with at least five patents, said Cheng.
The Innovation O.N.E Service Center is the core service agency in I-M-WAY, Cheng said. O.N.E Center works on certification, legal services, financial consultancy, tax services as well as policy guidance for firms that have established themselves in I-M-WAY.
Not only domestic companies but also international incubators have chosen I-M-WAY. For example, Plug & Play, the biggest incubation platform in the US and ARM Innovation Ecosystem Accelerator have set up there.
"Plug and Play was introduced here for its experience in growing startups and its rich resources in the Silicon Valley," Cheng said.
Many famous international groups including Microsoft Corp and Google Inc are going to cooperate with I-M-WAY as well.
In the next three years it is expected that transformation in scientific and technological achievements in I-M-WAY will escalate exponentially. Cheng added that more innovative firms would enter in the new avenue.
Yu Jun, the chief of Beijing's Haidian district, said the avenue would further continue to promote the commercialization of research findings and build up a development chain concentrating on intelligent manufacturing.
Gao Songya and Mu Sai contributed to this story.
