Latest News:  

English>>Business

Pioneering Xi’an market trades in tech

(People's Daily Online)

11:31, July 19, 2013

Covering 2,000 square meters, the market offers services including exhibitions, tech trading and consulting

Home to the famed ancient terracotta army, Xi’an is now making a modern name for itself as a place where people can trade technologies.

The Xi’an Technology Resources Market founded in 2011 is designed to capitalize on local resources to boost development of the sprawling Guanzhong-Tianshui economic zone, which covers 696,000 square kilometers in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.

Benefiting from the vibrant tech environment in Xi’an, the market has helped make technological transactions worth more than 20 billion yuan ($3 billion) since it began operation two years ago.

By the end of 2012, 16,793 deals had been made that had a combined value of 30 billion yuan.

The market now also offers e-platforms including traditional and mobile Internet.
People who visit the market hall can benefit from more than 110 services ranging from technology trading and equipment sharing to intellectual property protection.

The e-platforms list information about 874 colleges and universities, 5,826 professionals, 6,368 items of technology for sale and more than 11000 high-tech companies to satisfy specific demands of more than 11,000 members.

The online portal received 1.84 million hits by the end of last year.

The market is now expanding its coverage with a mobile phone app and an online cloud computing service center for startups.

It also started branches in Xi’an last year.

“By establishing branches and improving our services, we will expand our network from Xi’an to Shaanxi province and then to other parts of the country,” said an official at the market.

To realize the ambition, the staff is improving and diversifying other services as well.

“We know Xi’an is home to many military R&D institutions. But staff visits show some of them know little about products for civilian use despite their outstanding technical strength,” said a market member.

By providing up-to-date information, the market has helped them explore ways to serve the civilian market, he added.

To build an advanced system of scientific and innovation services at the market, the Xi’an Finance Bureau together with the city’s Technology Division have formulated a series of subsidies and stimulating policies.

The administrative committee for the market also encourages local technological trading through government’s policies that subsidize technology buyers.

“By subsidizing buyers, we help local companies purchase technologies that improve their capacity for innovation and fuels their development,” said an official at the market.

“In 2012, we offered a total of 16 million yuan in subsidies to 108 companies,” he said. “Thirty percent of the technologies were traded locally.”

The market’s administrative committee holds regular briefings to keep more high-tech enterprises abreast of national and local policies on subsides and tax rebates.
It has invited some 1,500 company employees from various industries to serve as liaison officers.

“The briefings are really benefiting,” said a company representative after a briefing at Xi’an high-tech development zone.

“They help us learn in a timely manner about favorable municipal, provincial and national policies.”

The administrative committee at the market also assists in solving problems faced by local high-tech startups.

It has built a 500-member team of technical experts, entrepreneurial mentors and other professionals that offer assistance either face-to-face or online.

In late 2012, it also worked with Youth Business China, a non-profit program to promote entrepreneurship and to provide consultancy to young entrepreneurs.

“It is really good that they helped us to find solutions to problems we face and provided valuable suggestions on our development in the next stage,” said a young entrepreneur who requested anonymity.

Another effort by the market’s administrative committee has been encouraging local universities, enterprises and R&D institutions to share their equipment with small and medium-sized enterprises that could not otherwise afford it.

Now some 207 labs offer more than 3,000 pieces of equipment.

Last year, they helped 430 companies save some 400 million yuan in costs while generating 250 million yuan in revenues to equipment owners.

The result created production valued at 530 million yuan.

To encourage more labs to join the effort, the administrative committee granted a 7.94 million yuan subsidy to 119 equipment owners in 2013.

The tech market has also built an analysis and testing center that pools equipment used in new materials, electronics, environmental protection, medical care, mining and biomedicine.

In addition to formulating measures to share equipment, the administrative committee is capitalizing on human resources at local universities and R&D institutions to tackle technical problems face by companies.

They have signed more than 30 letters of intent to companies including Xi’an Shangu Power Co and Forstar S&T Co.

“In 2013, the administrative committee at the market aims to raise the value of the city’s technology deals to 35 billion yuan, increase the total pieces of equipment available for sharing to 4,000 and help companies to claim tax rebates of 2 billion yuan,” said Xiang Wenrong, director of Xi’an’s bureau of science and technology.

We Recommend:

Born to lead: 2nd gen of Chinese tycoons

Model in see-through dress poses at auto show

Mortgage slaves' decade in real estate fever

2013 China Int'l Boat Show kicks off in Zhoushan

China Changchun Int'l Automobile Expo kicks off

Forbes names China's 50 best CEOs

Migrant workes' high incomes not that rosy

Chinese grads' unconventional jobs

In pictures: history of China's auto industry

Email|Print|Comments(Editor:WangLili、Chen Lidan)

Leave your comment0 comments

  1. Name

  

Selections for you


  1. HK Youth Military Summer Camp opens

  2. PLA special forces hold military skills contest

  3. Global crisis of land subsidence

  4. Woman recognized as world's oldest

  5. Fuzhou tops the list of hottest cities in China

  6. Photo: Voyage to Sansha

  7. A tribute to Chinese and Indian dulcimers

  8. ESMOD fashion school graduation show

  9. The foreign dairy conundrum in China

  10. Cross-sea bridge to be open in E China

Most Popular

Opinions

  1. ADB economist 'optimistic' on China economy
  2. What are so-called 'eight facts' of the Philippines?
  3. US surveillance program clouds US-European ties
  4. Abe's anti-China machinations doomed to fail
  5. China's recent slowdown not hard landing
  6. U.S. experts optimistic about China's growth
  7. Harmony is the theme of China's ocean strategy
  8. It is right time to invest in China
  9. Two-way fluctuation essential for RMB reform
  10. Brands face constant battle to attract, keep buyers

What’s happening in China

Charger shock for iPhone user

  1. Fake love avoids home-buying rules
  2. 129 on trial for telecom fraud in E China
  3. Maritime fire drill held in South China Sea
  4. China's tallest building to be finished by 2015
  5. Sichuan rainstorms result in water shortage