Chengdu Becoming an Innovation Center of China

CHENGDU, China, Nov. 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In October of this year, the 2018 National Mass Innovation and Entrepreneurship Week of China (hereinafter referred to as "Innovation & Entrepreneurship Week") was inaugurated in Chengdu. After being held in Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai, the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Week set up its main venue in Chengdu this time. And it is the first time for the Organizing Committee to locate the main venue in western China.

Why they chose Chengdu? According to the 2017 innovation and entrepreneurship indexes of Chinese cities, Chengdu's index is 85.26, only next to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Chengdu ranks the second in the city innovation and entrepreneurship capability subindex nationwide. Chengdu is also awarded as "Top 10 Cities to Start Up Business in China" by Fortune.

The 2018 competitiveness indexes of Chinese cities in spring job search period show that Chengdu has surpassed Shanghai, ranking the second nationwide. During the period, Chengdu offered 9,224 posts for Chinese youth. Nearly 40% of those posts came from key industrial fields and new economic fields in Chengdu. Since the introduction of "12 New Talent Policies" in Chengdu in July 2017, it has attracted more than 300,000 college graduates to settle down here.

Liu Yonghao, Chairman of New Hope Group, has deep feelings towards it. He remembered that a majority of young people wanted to work and start their businesses in coastal area of China previously. However, with the development of the western region in China and construction of the "Belt and Road", Chengdu has attracted more and more young people and plenty of high-quality technology companies and projects nowadays.

"'Innovation & Entrepreneurship' is not only for young enterprises and people. It is more important for traditional enterprises," Liu Yonghao said. The sales of New Hope Group reached RMB 80 billion in 2011. He thought exceeding RMB 100 billion would be easy at that time, but he didn't make it until 2013. "Then we realized that traditional enterprises needed to transform and upgrade the business model, system and mechanism, etc.," he said. "Through the 5-year innovative reform, New Hope Group becomes more vigorous and establishes more emerging enterprises related to consumption upgrading. Its income of this year is expected to exceed RMB 130 billion. The practices of New Hope Group demonstrate that although facing various difficulties, traditional enterprises could do well in transformation and upgrading under an innovation-driven backdrop of national reform and opening-up," Liu Yonghao stated.

Royole Corporation is one of the first teams to work on the research and development of professional full-color flexible display technology around the world. Its responsible person, Fan Junchao, described Chengdu as an "old friend" when talking about this city. "Chengdu is one of the most developed cities in western China. The electronic information industry develops well here, occupying a position nationwide and even worldwide. We visited the high-tech zone of Chengdu particularly this time. Many peers from semiconductor, chip, electronic display fields and others have entered the zone. Seeing that, I feel Chengdu is growing rapidly," he said. Fan Junchao stated that they would seek an appropriate time to settle the research and development of flexible electronics down in Chengdu, according to the company's development demand.

The Internet giants consider Chengdu as an important city to develop their business. Recently, the Ant Financial Services Group built its R&D center in Chengdu. The game, Kings of Glory, was developed in Chengdu. Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd established its Global Storage R&D Headquarter in Chengdu, the largest storage R&D institution in China.

The relevant responsible person of Chengdu Municipal Development and Reform Commission believes it benefits from the new orientation of Chengdu decided by Sichuan Province and the upgrading of Innovation & Entrepreneurship implemented by Chengdu. The data shows the added value of Chengdu's information service industry in 2017 was RMB 27.2 billion, accounting for 39.5% of eight key fields. With its total added value ranking first among all the industries, it drives the cultural and creative industry evidently. The relevant responsible person of Chengdu Municipal Development and Reform Commission said that the cultural and creative industry focused on information service which was the core competence to guarantee the sustainable development of cultural and creative industry in Chengdu.

Chengdu establishes industrial parks in a faster speed, introduces matched industries, enterprises and talents, increases supports and improves supporting policies to provide a fertile development foundation for all industries.

Additionally, Chengdu takes full advantage of "Internet plus" to enhance the cultural brand value and enlarge it focusing on the "Tianfu Panda". Through the national and international spread and diffusion of TV programs, movies, animations and peripheral products about pandas, the potential of this cultural brand value has been exploited maximally, promoting the virtuous circle of creative design and TV media and driving the joint development of information, artwork, tourism, conference and exhibition industries.

In September, the "Cultural and Creative Industry Development Investment Fund" was established formally in Chengdu. The relevant official introduced that the FOF of the initial round reached RMB 2.5 billion. The total amount will exceed RMB 10 billion through the amplification effect of sub-funds. The Fund will give full play to industrial cluster effect, attract excellent investment organizations, spaces, projects and financial talents of cultural and creative industry, and introduce over 100 financial talents and over 1000 comprehensive talents with experience in cultural, commercial, tourism and sports industries to start up their business in Chengdu. As a result, the "magnetic field" effect of talents takes shape. It will construct a healthy, orderly and vigorous cultural and creative industry ecosphere to promote the high-quality and sustainable development of the cultural and creative industry in Chengdu.

SOURCE Chengdu Municipal Development and Reform Commission