Tianjin High-tech Park

By WU MEILING

THE 85.74-sq-km area in eastern Tianjin that now bristles with hi-tech enterprises was, just two decades ago, a barren stretch of saline-alkaline soil. Opening-up and reform since 1991 has generated the hi-tech districts of Huayuan in its west, Binhai in the east, and the central Nankai, Wuqing, Beichen and Tanggu sci-tech parks. But despite these huge scientific advances, the area maintains a calm and pollution-free ambience.

The area, proudly known as the Tianjin High-Tech Park, represents the vanguard of the port city's sci-tech advance.

The hi-tech district of Huayuan.

Independent Innovator

Since the establishment of the "silicon valleys" of Zhongguancun in Beijing and Zhangjiang in the Pudong area of Shanghai, hi-tech areas as exemplified in eastern Tianjin are regarded as hotbeds of Chinese invention.

Tianjin, as site of China's first domestically produced wrist watch, bicycle and TV set, has an impressive history of industrial development.

But no city can survive on past glories, and Tianjin has come firmly to grips with contemporary high-tech challenges.

In front of the Saixiang Company stands a three-meter high model of the world's first steel radial meridian tire 33.00R51 ever manufactured in a one-step process.

The nearby Lishen Company is justly proud of having broken the Japanese monopoly on lithium-ion battery production and sales, particularly in view of the generally held belief at the time that China was still years away from industrialized production.

The Dawning Company in September 2008 made China a close second to the US by producing the world's first high-performance commercial "super" computer model 5000A, capable of a hundred trillion calculations per second.

The many other high-tech companies established in the area make it 100 percent source of new technology, independent innovation, and high-caliber human resources; also of the most advanced Chinese intellectual property products in the fields of software, electronic information technology, new energy, and biopharmaceuticals.

Statistics show that the area possesses more than 6,000 leading technologies. The Tianjin High-tech Park thus stands shoulder-to-shoulder with other high-tech regions in the country and even around the world. Its innovative power has won it due respect from multi-national manufacturers, commercial giants and economists alike. The area was site in September 2008 of the "Summer Davos" – a forum of global economic champions and top brains.

Oil-wheeling Administration

That an environment conducive to pioneering and innovative effort is prerequisite to the success of every high-tech leader worldwide is evident in India, the US and the ROK. The Tianjin High-tech Park has this advantage.

The Tianjin High-tech Park was among the first group of new and high technology development areas approved by the State Council in March 1991. It has developed into a smokeless zone and the pilot for the implementation of the nation's ISO14000 environmental management standards. The area expanded to its present size in 2006 upon inclusion within it of Binhai, which was the first State-Council-approved high-tech zone built under ministry and city government collaboration.

The area's soft environemnt for facilitating investment invitation is just one aspect of the bedrock that maintains its leading technological status.

Economic enterprises ideally create wealth within an appropriate environment which the government provides. Administrative organs hence do their utmost to give help and advice to companies that establish bases in the area. Information, consultation services and administrative approvals are available free-of-charge on the Internet, and a "one-stop comprehensive service" is also provided in a government hall, all of which considerably oil the wheels of the government approval process.

Spot meetings among the management of established brand manufacturers – or of small businesses just starting out – and representatives of various government departments, in which rapid problem-solving decisions are made, are also administrative features of the area.

The Tianjin High-tech Park administration acts as the guiding hand for enterprises at all levels: from nascence, to inviting investment and funding, to taking out patents, to constructing a software platform. Service of this caliber involves millions of details which the administration is happy to take care of in its dedicated capacity of fostering high-tech innovation and promoting commercial success.