In 2009 LKK signed a cooperation agreement with Doov, the self-proclaimed No. 1 brand of women's cell phones in China, to enhance the latter's design strategy. "Design companies originally worked on their client's individual products, each order worth no more than tens of thousands of yuan. The development of an overall market-design strategy was a millions-of-yuan project," said LKK General Manager Jia Wei. "In this case, the ultimate goals of professional design are not at the product level, but at the strategic level. I think many enterprises engage in design activities, but lack a design strategy or a broad innovative vision." Jia Wei understands his clientele and the value to them of LKK's high-end design service, explaining: "Their design departments usually struggle with restrictions on their vision and creativity, such as the low-price tag requirement. They need companies like us who provide high-end services in a holistic, innovative and integrated approach."

    China Visual.com entered the DRC with a start-up contingent of five staff and a tiny fund from Angel Capital, a private investor that provides seed funding for creative ideas. Today, China.visual.com is one of the most influential professional design portals in China, with 100 employees. In 2006 it got US $10 million from American Unisun Images Group, the first risk investment from abroad to a Chinese visual art website.

    According to Xie Yong, general manager of Exmade Design Consultants Co., Ltd., their company is entering into a growing number of partnership agreements with the world's top 500 companies, and the mode of their cooperation is changing from a "case by case" pattern to cooperation agreements as annual frameworks, with single deals worth no less than RMB 100,000. Over the past five years the DRC has incubated many such design companies.

    The innovation base has also provided design-technology support for over 600 enterprises and trained various kinds of designers in cooperation with university departments and business enterprises. It has established cooperative relations with over 50 governmental departments, designers' organizations, and design companies and institutions from around the world, including the British European Design Group and Korean Institute of Design Promotion. Vigorous promotion of Beijing as an industrial design capital is another mission, realized through operating international exchange and cooperation platforms such as the China Design Market and hosting important trade events such as the ICOGRADA (International Council of Graphic Design Associations) World Design Congress, the Beijing International Cultural and Creative Industry Expo and Beijing International Hi-tech Expo.

    In May 2008 the Beijing Economic and Technology Development Zone (Yizhuang) signed an agreement worth US $1 billion with South Korea's SK Group for the joint development of a digital and industrial design project. The new section will cover 200,000 square meters when it is completed in 2013 and aims to attract the world's top 500 cultural enterprises to move their headquarters or set up R&D centers there. By then, Beijing will be a spin closer to becoming the world's creative vortex.