Taking the high road
City shuns heavy industry to specialise in technology and innovation
The China Western Development strategy started in 2000 as the mainland sought to spread the economic vitality of its booming eastern cities across the country. This resulted in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, transitioning into a kinetic 14-million person hub of manufacturing, hi-tech research and development, financial services, retail and trade, and tourism.
"In the past decade, the city experienced an economic transition," says George Sun, a lecturer at Chengdu University. "The heavy industry companies were moved out by the government and manufacturing businesses, software industry, and service industry was moved in from coastal cities."
With new policies, including tax breaks, free rent and interest-free loans, Chengdu became a prime destination for businesses and start-ups. Sun says there are 1.14 million registered businesses in the city.
Chengdu opted to move beyond manufacturing and specialise in the hi-tech and innovation sectors. Playing a major role in this progression was the creation of multiple large-scale hi-tech development zones. The 82.5-square-kilometre Chengdu Hi-Tech Zone is now home to more than 33,000 companies, including over 1,100 foreign invested enterprises.
The massive technological hub has clusters for the electronics, biomedicine, software and precision machinery industries. These include New Tianfu City, a 37.5-square-kilometre new urban core that is expected to attract 600,000 residents along with 200,000 to 300,000 tech industry workers; Tianfu Software Park, which is more focused on long-term innovation; the Sino-Singapore Innovation Zone, which is a joint venture for hi-tech research and development between Sichuan and Singapore; Chengdu Internet of Things Technology Institute, a national epicentre for the internet of things (IoT) industry; and General Electric's China Innovation Centre, which is the company's first such innovation centre and will serve as a location for research on industrial automation, green energy and health care.
The zone ranks fourth out of China's 88 state-level hi-tech areas.
The Tianfu New Area is a colossal, 1,578-square-kilometre emerging manufacturing, research and development, and high-end service area that includes portions of three cities and seven counties. It includes the southern part of the Chengdu Hi-Tech Zone and five other economic and development zones, and is projected to have a GDP of US$103 billion by 2020.
