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June 29, 2016

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Home » City specials » Chengdu

Innovation in focus as 3,000 deals inked

CUTTING-EDGE technologies and global collaboration took center stage during the 2016 China (Chengdu) Global Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fair in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province.

More than 3,000 deals with a trade volume of over 16 billion yuan (US$2.41 billion) were inked during the fair, which was held between June 24 and June 26.

The top information technology and innovation event in west China attracted 450 distinguished guests from 36 countries, including digital trailblazers from Silicon Valley, domestic start-ups, Nobel Prize winners, government leaders and venture capitalists. It represented Chengdu’s transformation to become a global center for innovation and entrepreneurship.

The annual event featured 12 high-level forums that focused on trends in innovation and entrepreneurship, three trade fairs for innovation and entrepreneurship resources and two innovation and entrepreneurship contests.

More than 300 exhibitors attended the innovation exhibition, including giants like Google and Tesla, and domestic leading firms like BOE and www.99114.com. The exhibition took two halls with more than 15,000 square meters, covering exhibition areas, stock equity trade zones and on-site recruiting zones.

The various trade fairs were noteworthy. During the technology trade fair, 1,746 deals both online and off-line were made with a combined volume of 6.17 billion yuan. Among them, global tech trade volume amounted to 1.61 billion yuan, accounting for 26 percent of the total.

Chengdu also established a government-backed fund for high-tech and innovation investment, Chengdu Qianhai Industry Fund, the first of its kind. The initial investment reached 40 billion yuan. A total of 175 investment projects were signed on-site, with expected investment volume of 10 billion yuan, doubling that of 2015.

More than 70,000 people attended the various high-end forums, trade fairs and special exhibitions, six times higher compared with last year.

Cutting-edge technologies

Robots, drones, virtual reality gadgets and 3D printing products were displayed in the Chengdu Century City New International Convention and Exhibition Center. Sixty overseas firms and incubators such as Google, GE, Tesla and the EU Innovation Center attended.

Wisesoft Co Ltd displayed 3D-based facial recognition technologies at the booth. With the latest technology, it greatly improved recognition efficiency in the region with a huge volume of traffic including railway stations, airports and tourism sites, compared with traditional 2D recognition. It’s now used in Chengdudong Railway Station and will be used in the Chengdu airport.

During the conference, Arthur B McDonald, the 2015 Nobel Prize winner for physics, talked about the development of neutrino research, and he was optimistic about the future of Chengdu.

Brian Ring, chief scientist of US-based YiGene, said that genetic diagnosis should be available to the public, with information sharing and data analysis. The technology can be widely used in breast cancer treatment and prevention of newborn defects now, which will grow rapidly with integration with Internet technologies.

Bibop Gresta, COO of Hyperloop Transportation, said Chengdu is an amazing city of innovation, and boasts sound environment for entrepreneurship. He said Chengdu will become a center of future development.

During the Future Technologies Forum, Wu Hequan of the Chinese Academy of Engineering talked about the potential of China’s information technology market in sectors like the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence.

Global collaboration

Besides the world-leading scientific and technological achievements, and cutting-edge technologies and devices, the Chengdu fair also provided the venue and communicating channels for overseas entrepreneurial organizations and entrepreneurs from Chengdu and the world, guided by the principle of innovation and entrepreneurship.

The “International Innovation Space” showed the fair’s global influence as it attracted representatives from innovative enterprises, scientific and technological giants and international entrepreneurship incubators from around the globe. They include Google, the new technology entrepreneurship program team of Stanford University, American entrepreneurship incubator as well as accelerator Plug & Play, innovative and entrepreneurial organization Slush from Finland, the UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) company Parrot from France and FxGear from South Korea.

United States firms, including 60 Fortune 500 giants, have invested heavily in Chengdu, covering integrated circuit, aerospace manufacturing, testing of electronic devices and software development, which are strategic industries for Chengdu. The city aims to establish itself as a “Silicon Valley” in west China.

China-Europe Innovation Cooperation Forum and the 2016 World Top Technology Park Roundtable were also held during the fair, attracting speakers and executives seeking business and cooperation opportunities with China.

Investment environment

According to China’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship and New Economy Indexes released during the fair, Chengdu’s innovation index is higher than most of the domestic cities.

The indexes, compiled using data from media coverage, science, economy, environment and talent, were released in Chengdu after Premier Li Keqiang visited the city and encouraged development of tech innovation and new economy in April.

In 2015, Chengdu’s newly registered capital volume hit 654.59 billion yuan, a growth of 103 percent year-on-year, which is 54.8 percentage points higher than the national average. Chengdu’s high-tech industry output reached 785.8 billion yuan (US$118 billion) in 2015, adding about 11,000 new technology firms. Chengdu-based firms applied for 77,538 patents in 2015, 20 percent more than in the previous year.

The high-tech industry development and improved investment environment will boost Chengdu’s new economy revenue, the new growth engine of the city. It covers nine categories including next-generation IT and services, new material, new energy, finance and the law sector. In 2016, Chengdu plans to increase its research budget by 15 percent and incubate more than 10,000 high-tech firms.




 

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