China's high tech hub to support start-ups

Buoyed by the $333 billion revenue notched up by its high tech firms, China's leading technology hub in Haidian district plans to upgrade its core 7.2-km-long street area into one serving innovation and business start-ups.

Under the plan, the Zhongguancun area will cover key universities such as Peking and Tsinghua and electronics shopping centres. Some 36 office buildings are on both sides of the street, which houses more than 6,000 companies.

In the first eight months, revenue of the high-tech firms in Zhongguancun reached 2.1 trillion yuan ($333 billion) up 10.8 per cent year-on-year, official media reported on Monday.

The street will shift to providing services to boost technological financing, innovation and business start-ups, creative culture as well as industries related to information, big data and smart hardware.

"After the transformation, the street will be a window for the outside to see the achievements in innovation and start-ups of Zhongguancun," state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Yan Xiumin, deputy director of the Zhongguancun Haidian Park as saying.

In June 2014, a 220-meter-long section of the street started transformation and has attracted nearly 40 companies serving business start-ups. The street aims to realise a remarkable improvement in serving innovation by 2020.

The technological area based in Haidian district is China's first innovation demonstration zone approved by the State Council in 2009 and aims to become a technological innovation centre with global influence.

Xin Guobin, vice minister of Industry and Information Technology said yesterday that more than 10,000 start-up firms are being set up everyday in China as part of new reforms initiated by the Chinese government to halt the slide of the economy.

Data was collected last March through the end of August this year and about 6 million firms were registered during the period, he said.