REGIONAL> Development
Dalian's software outsourcing industry expands
By Zhu Chengpei and Zhang Xiaomin (China Daily Dalian Bureau)
Updated: 2009-06-19 17:45

Dalian's software outsourcing industry grew at an accelerated pace in the first five months of this year amid the ongoing global financial downturn, a senior official said Friday at an outsourcing summit.

Li Wancai, acting mayor of Dalian, said the sales revenue of the city's software outsourcing sector reached 15.91 billion yuan in the first five months of this year, up 25.9 percent year-on-year.

"The software export grew 25.5 percent from the figure in the same period of 2007 to $550 million," said Li at the 2009 China International Software and Information Service Outsourcing Summit.

Li attributed the growth, amid the ongoing global financial downturn, to the steady development of its IT sector in the past 10 years, in which its annual sales revenue grew from 200 million yuan to 30.6 billion yuan.

Currently there are more than 800 software outsourcing companies in Dalian, including Intel, HP, and IBM.

Li said the city plans to continue developing the IT outsourcing sector.

Gao Wei, CEO of Dalian Software Park Co (DLSP), said DLSP - which runs software parks in Dalian, Suzhou, Wuhan, and Tianjin – believes building a "comprehensive community" is the key to attracting more IT companies and professionals to Dalian.

"In order to enjoy a better development, we should build a community with better services around the technical center."

Gao said DLSP is planning to develop new service facilities for commercial and social activities around their office buildings.