Xi'an brand visibility growing (2)

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By Ed Zhang (People's Daily Online) 13:46, September 06, 2013

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“Of course, the (Xi’an high-tech zone) is also supportive, along with the accommodation from the zone’s startup park,” he said, pointing to his new and spacious workshop.

The start-up park is a facility built on orders from the Ministry of Science and Technology to help patent owners as well as scientists and engineers to launch their own ventures.

The technological zone’s start-up park is a government commissioned service center for more than 800 technological ventures.

It contains several special purpose“incubators” for nascent companies in different industries and one “booster” site for more established firms.

For the younger Zhou, the zone’s support has been even more important.

Developing his product took more than nine years of rigorous testing and redesign. And during all those years, the start-up park provided him with his office and lab as well as tax breaks and preferential grants whenever possible. “That was a time when I was a poor man. When I traveled to Beijing, I could afford only the cheapest hotel and lowest air fare,” he said. “I could not even afford to ask my wife to join me. She had to keep working in America when I was sleeping on the floor in my office in China.”

Changes came to him only recently, when his product proved GPS worthy and his company became a supplier to the government and various smart city programs. “At last, I can bring my wife to Xi’an now.”

The two executives said Xi’an has one more crucial advantage– an abundant supply of mid-skill labor from its large number of colleges.

“And young people here still don’t change jobs as often,” Xuz added.