China plans to build Zhongguancun into another 'Silicon Valley'
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Zhongguancun, a technology hub in Beijing, will be as synonymous with IT innovation in ten years as Silicon Valley is, according to a draft of the country's 12th Five-Year Plan.
Zhongguancun will be built into an innovation center that would be known internationally, according to the draft plan, the blueprint of China's development in the coming five years, which national legislators are deliberating.
The State Council, China's Cabinet, has recently approved a Development Plan for the Zhongguancun National Innovation Demonstration Zone (2011-2020) that allows the area to try out new measures and pilot projects, said Zhang Gong, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC).
According to the zone's development plan, the total revenue of Zhongguancun is targeted at 10 trillion yuan (1.5 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2020, a big jump from the 1.3 trillion-yuan-revenue in 2009.
To reach this goal, Beijing's municipal officials said that in the next five years the city would use 50 billion yuan from the fiscal revenue to help commercialize scientific and technological innovations.
In addition, the government would procure 30 billion yuan of independently innovated products made in the zone.
Beijing will also help at least 300 companies to grow capital to at least 1 billion yuan, which, in turn, can push forward the development of the entire industry.
Zhongguancun's growth will go a long way toward repositioning Beijing as the national innovation center, which is also stated in the municipal 12th Five-Year Plan.
"It will also play a strategic role in putting China on the track of innovation-based development," said Fang Xin, a deputy to the NPC.
Liu Chuanzhi, chairman of the board of Lenovo Group Limited, said, "As Zhongguancun embarks on its new endeavor, we will also see a new group of entrepreneurs."
The total revenue of nearly 20,000 companies in Zhongguancun was 1.55 trillion yuan last year, up by 20 percent year on year. The area accounted for 19.2 percent of Beijing's GDP.
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