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The Experience of and Inspiration from High-quality Development of Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone
2019-06-18
By Hua Ruoyun & Ma Yinong
Research Report Vol.21 No.3, 2019
As an important carrier for improving production efficiency through factor concentration in a certain area, development zone has been a strong driving force of regional economic growth in the past 30 years. However, as the potential growth rate of China gradually converges to the level of advanced countries, late-mover advantages play an ever smaller role in maintaining high growth, which is the underlying reason for the bottlenecks encountered by development zones in recent years. To break the bottlenecks and achieve a new round of high-quality development, Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone (CDHT) has carried out a series of helpful practices to implement the new development concept and achieved positive results. By summarizing CDHT’s practices and experience in transforming toward high-quality development, this paper aims to provide references for other high-tech zones in China to achieve the same goal.
I. CDHT makes Progress on Promoting High-quality Development
1. The leading industries grow fast and the industrial ecology keeps improving
With the establishment of industrial ecology as the overarching principle, CDHT shifted the focus of investment attraction to the whole industrial chain. Aiming to improve the industrial structural ecology and by conducting targeted investment attraction and strengthening and completing the industrial chain, CDHT enhanced the quality and efficiency of three leading industries - electronic information, biopharmaceuticals and modern service industry. In 2018, 123 enterprises above the designated scale in the electronic information manufacturing industry realized RMB300.05 billion output value accumulatively, up 20.41% year-on-year. The biopharmaceutical industry exceeded the scale of RMB40 billion with 26 types of medicines registering over RMB100 million sales revenues each, climbing to the 6th position among national biopharmaceutical industrial parks in terms of overall competitiveness. 11,139 businesses engaged in new economic sectors were newly registered, and the growth rate reached 25%[]①.
2. Factors are improved steadily; innovation drive takes primary effect
CDHT has steadily improved the three major factors for economic development - labor force, capital and land. In 2018, it brought in one Nobel Prize laureate through flexible talent program, 70 talents through the provincial “recruitment program of global experts”, 87 talents through the “Chengdu drifters” program, and more than 4,000 talents urgently needed for leading industries. CDHT also launched 10 PPP projects with the total investment of RMB53 billion, assisted in the reform and listing of about 80 enterprises, and revitalized 648 mu (43.2 hectares) of low-efficiency industrial land by building 870,000m2 of standard plants. In the meantime, it made active efforts to foster innovative drivers. CDHT issued certificates of high-tech innovation and entrepreneurship to 9,800 enterprises throughout the year, which had a year-on-year increase of 60%; 62 R&D institutes were established, the ownership of valid invention patents reached 148 per 10,000 people, and 48 projects of the translation of technological results were completed[]②.
3. City functions are enhanced; people have a stronger sense of acquisition
Upholding the concept of “park city”, CDHT formed the five-tiered greening system and advanced the construction of water system, green belts and parks in an orderly manner. In 2018, the size of green areas amounted to 33.85 million square meters, averaging 10.4m2 per person; 15 township sewage treatment facilities and auxiliary networks were built and put into use; 172 walls were demolished to increase greening penetration, two park-style neighborhoods were built and seven old ones were renovated; about 13,000m enclosing walls and 9,000m2 illegal buildings were torn down, which increased about 140,000m2 open space across the city. Demonstration districts, such as the Shuijie district of Tiexiang Temple, Nanyuan district and the district around the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, have begun to show their exemplary role. CDHT worked hard to provide quality public services and facilities and integrate production, life and ecology, so as to continuously raise people’s sense of happiness and acquisition. CDHT also carried out 58 livelihood projects, including talent apartment buildings, community complex, public schools and hospitals[]③.
II. The key to CDHT’s high-quality Development lies in Following the new Development Concept and Fostering a Development model by which people, city, environment and businesses develop in Harmony and Unity.
1. Adhere to innovative development: foster an industrial ecosphere with industrial functional zones as carriers; build an innovative ecosystem centered on the flow of knowledge
(1) Economic work is organized with industrial functions zones as carriers, and a three-tiered management mechanism of “administrative committee - industrial functional zones - neighborhoods (towns and townships)” is created. The Party Work Committee and administrative committee are responsible for resource allocation, coordination and making strategies, the industrial functional zones are responsible for industrial development and project attraction, cultivation and promotion, while the neighborhoods (towns and townships) are responsible for supportive work. With four major industrial functional zones as carriers - electronic information zone, Tianfu international bio-town, new economic zone and Tianfu international airport new town, CDHT created the “one high-tech zone, four parks” structure and corrected the market malfunction caused by scattered parks and disorderly competition in the past. Correspondingly, the organizational structure of the administrative committee was also adjusted and development bureaus for new economic sectors, electronic information industry, bio-industries and airport new town were formed, so that the government could serve the enterprises more professionally.
(2) A mechanism of gradient industrial cultivation is established to enlarge the group of innovative enterprises. Bearing in mind their full life cycle, CDHT especially cultivated four types of innovative enterprises - young eagle companies, gazelle companies, unicorn companies and leading companies for platform ecology. With young eagle companies, the focus is on evaluation and assistance, and key support and guidance is provided for a selected batch of high-tech startup companies every year. With gazelle companies, the focus is on accelerating their growth, and strong support is provided for a batch of enterprises that boast compound high growth or sustained growth. With unicorn companies, the focus is on the enhancement of development quality, and a batch of unicorns or potential unicorns are entitled to strong government support. With leading companies for platform ecology, the focus is on their exemplary role in industrial ecology, and policy subsidies are offered to carry out M&A and restructuring and purchase innovative products from startup companies. A 10-billion VC fund for new economy and a special fund of RMB200 million a year for new economic applications are set up, creating a convenient and efficient investment and financing platform for incubation projects and startup companies.
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