Technology Innovation | Chaoyang District

We bolster the development of technological innovation

Chaoyang District has effectively coordinated regional innovation resources in a bid to promote the high-quality development of scientific and technological innovation in recent years, which can be summarized in the following aspects.

First, Chaoyang pursues high-level internationalization. Chaoyang is home to 60 international scientific and technological cooperation bases, accounting for 15% of the total in Beijing. In recent years, it has attracted a group of R&D centres of Fortune 500 companies such as Ericsson, Tesla and Mercedes-Benz. Chaoyang Science Park has been developed into a technological CBD, which has clustered numerous international high-tech leading projects such as Alibaba, Merck, Kunpeng Joint Innovation Centre, China Academy of Industrial Internet and Future Forum.

Second, Chaoyang integrates its characteristics into the development of industries. Chaoyang is diversified in industrial forms with a full range of factor resources. During the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan period, the average annual growth rate of operating income of the software and information services and the technology services reached 14.8% and 11% respectively. Chaoyang District sees the emergence of cross-industrial integration. The new business form is highlighted by the integration of culture and technology.

Third, innovative resources have been pooled to support Chaoyang’s development. 19 colleges and universities, 89 research institutes, 30 national and municipal key laboratories and 12 national engineering technology research centres dwell in Chaoyang, accounting for more than 1/5 of the total in Beijing. As of March 2021, the total number of national high-tech enterprises has exceeded 4,200. In addition, there are 115 incubation institutions above the district level and more than 6,000 incubating enterprises.

Fourth, Chaoyang seeks breakthroughs by building smart cities. The initial stage of the “urban smart brain” integrated command centre project has been completed. Chaoyang aims to continuously improve the level of intelligent urban management, human-centred services, rapid emergency response and scientific decision-making by integrating the “urban management brain”, “urban economic brain” and “urban safety brain”.

FACILITIES AND RESOURCES

At present, Chaoyang District accommodates 115 incubators and maker spaces of various types, including more than 60 above the district level, totaling an area of 2.15 million square metres and housing nearly 7,700 enterprises.

Construction of the Zhongguancun Chaoyang International Venture Capital Cluster started at the end of last year. Located in the Dawangjing area, the cluster will introduce several internationally renowned venture capital institutions and nurture a batch of companies and industry leaders with global influence to form industry-leading clusters of cutting-edge technology and innovation.

In the first year since the opening of the International Venture Capital Cluster, 21 venture capital projects and 3 professional service institutions have been settled in, and 22 venture capital institutions have applied to participate in its development. During the Beijing 2020 Venture Capital International Summit, the cluster welcomed the settlement of Sequoia China Technology Innovation Incubation and Growth Centre, H.I. Centre, Haier COSMOPlat and CY Zone Innovation Empowerment Centre.

As a part of its efforts to enhance IT talent cultivation and services, the district has organized the Overseas Talent Entrepreneurship Conference (OTEC) to attract high-tech talents. With the goal of integrating all types of high-quality resources for innovation and entrepreneurship and serving entrepreneurs worldwide, OTEC is dedicated to becoming the first stop for returning (coming) talents who seek innovation and entrepreneurship opportunities in China. Since its establishment, OTEC has attracted more than 30,000 entrepreneurs, 6,000 projects and more than 100 venture capital institutions from 39 countries and regions across the world. Over 500 projects have made Beijing its destination and received investment, with a total financing scale of more than 2.7 billion yuan.

In the future, Chaoyang District will ride the trend of the digital economy and try to be a never-ending “science salon” through a portfolio of programs, policies and initiatives. The newly issued Implementation Plan for Building a Digital Economy Demonstration Zone draws a blueprint of digital economy development in the district:

Chaoyang District is going to vigorously introduce and cultivate headquarter enterprises with international influence and attract unicorn enterprises and hidden champions in the digital economy, striving to foster over 100 industry leaders and incubate more than 300 high-growth enterprises
To become a new landmark for Digital Demonstration Zone, the district plans to construct 20 buildings and 20 industrial parks to support the development of the digital economy and implement a group of demonstration scenarios of digital-economy application
The district is going to build a total of more than 5,000 new 5G base stations, achieving continuous coverage of outdoor signal and targeted coverage of key areas in the whole district
The district is going to build an eco-cluster of IP operation services with high standards, introduce 50 professional IP service institutions and support innovation entities to improve their ability in IP utilization

Based on the moves above, the district will build a new type of safe, autonomous and controllable database with independent designs; establish three service integration centres, namely AI ultra-high-speed computing centre, blockchain open-source platform and geographic information system platform; also, the district is going to construct “three brains”, namely the urban brain, economic brain and security brain and develop multiple demonstration scenarios in smart Winter Olympic transportation, urban governance, governmental services and energy.

Adopting a strategy of leadership led by new types of digital headquarter enterprises, the district is going to facilitate the formation of an "international digital headquarters enterprise cluster" to fuel the upgrading of traditional industries.

The district is also going to accelerate the digital transformation of existing competitive industries in the district, such as retailing, commerce, finance, culture and technology, and strive to build a new eco-system for the digital industry. With an emphasis on AI, industrial Internet, network security and blockchain, it is going to adopt an integrated approach of digital industrialization and industrial digitalization, empower enterprises through digital means to innovate and develop and create a new growth point for regional economic development.

At the same time, the district will leverage its high-level consumption of fashion products, innovate new modes for digital consumption, upgrade the services for digital life and offer residents more benefits of the digital economy. It is going to speed up the development of the digital consumption industry, create international digital consumption zones and improve access to digital life services.

The district is going to first establish several digital fashion blocks in international business zones such as Sanlitun, Solana, China Beijing World Towers and Wangjing to further stimulate consumption.

The district will take actions to innovate smart education, take the lead in building “smart classrooms” and encourage layered education enabled by digital technology.

A new eco-system of digital healthcare is also on the agenda as it accelerates the construction of “Internet hospitals” and improves the operational efficiency of intelligent healthcare. The district is going to proactively adapt to the development trend of the digital economy, strengthen urban governance enabled by digital technology, continue to optimize the first-class international business environment and enhance people’s access to the digital economy.