By WANG QIANwangqian2@chinadaily.com.cn

A high-tech zone in the Shandong city of Weifang is committed to increasing its global competitiveness by fostering leading enterprises in emerging and advanced industries.

“We are taking advantage of our high technologies, talent pool and innovative strength to develop a number of famous brands and sharpen our core competitiveness,” said Wang Xianling, deputy secretary of the CPC Weifang committee and secretary of the CPC Weifang High-Tech Development Zone Committee.

Founded in 1991, the 110-square-kilometer zone was among China’s first batch of State-level high-tech industrial parks. It has become a key production base for a number of high-end sectors, such as automobile and advanced equipment manufac-turing, biomedicine, optoelectronics, electronic information, software and service outsourcing and 3D printing technology.

Wang said the zone attaches great importance to developing emerg-ing and advanced sectors. Statistics show that last year the zone reported a combined industrial output value of 80.76 billion yuan ($13 billion), 54.23 billion yuan of which was gen-erated from emerging and advanced sectors.

The zone is home to more than 1,000 high-tech enterprises, includ-ing over 50 major companies that

each have annual revenue of more than 100 million yuan. Combined revenue from the high-tech enter-prises now accounts for more than

67 percent of the zone’s total.One of the heavyweight players in

the zone is Weichai Holding Group, China’s leading manufacturer of

powertrains and components for commercial vehicles and building machinery.

In recent years, the company has actively tapped into overseas mar-kets. In 2012, it acquired a 75 percent stake in Italy’s Ferretti Group, the largest luxury yacht manufacturer in the world.

Later it spent 738 million euros ($827.5 million) to purchase 25 per-cent of the shares in Kion Group, the world’s second-largest forklift manufacturer and a global leader in hydraulic technology. The deal marked the biggest direct invest-ment by a Chinese company in a German company to date.

These deals have helped Weichai improve its sales and technology at home and abroad. The company now

has branches in the United States, Singapore, France, Russia, Italy and Germany. Its products have been exported to more than 110 countries and regions.

The rapid development of the Weichai Group and the zone’s sound industrial environment have attract-ed a large number of related compa-nies to settle there. The zone is now home to 41 major automobile equip-ment manufacturers, 21 of which have annual revenue of more than 100 million yuan.

In the field of optoelectronics and electroacoustics, more than 200 competitive enterprises have settled in the zone, making it the largest industrial park of its kind nation-wide. It is also China’s major semi-conductor light-emitting devices production base.

One of the leading companies in this field is GoerTek Inc, which sup-plies components to a number of the world-renowned brands, including Apple, Siemens, Samsung, Hewlett Packard and LG Electronics. Its prod-ucts, such as advanced Bluetooth headsets, silicon microphones and 3D glasses have all held the largest market share worldwide for years.

By 2020, the zone aims to become a globally competitive optoelectronic equipment production and research center, which is expected to generate 100 billion yuan in revenue.

To promote the software informa-tion sector, the zone’s management committee has allocated 40 million

yuan to establish a provincial call center, a cloud computing platform and other public technology service centers. The value of its offshore ser-vice outsourcing is forecast to break the $100 million mark by the year’s end.

The zone also has favorable poli-cies for introducing talented person-nel, including tax breaks, preferential loans, subsidies for business startups and human resources support. It now has more than 5,000 high-end professionals, including more than 400 from overseas.

“We will continue to offer favor-able policies to make the zone attrac-tive to high-caliber personnel, which plays an important role in boosting the zone’s development,” Wang said, adding that 2,788 patents have been applied for since last year.

“With these efforts, we are deter-mined to develop into one of China’s leading high-tech hubs and a lead-ing global player in some sectors,” Wang said.

By SUN SHANGWU

China Daily, the national English-language newspaper, provides a win-dow into China and offers high-quality print and digital media services to its extensive readership around the world.

Starting today, we expand that win-dow with in-depth coverage of the Wei-fang High-Tech Industrial Develop-ment Zone in Shandong province.

Every Thursday, China Daily will dedicate a full-page to a special report to help readers better understand the latest news about the zone and offer insight into its investment climate and industrial advantages.

Known as the kite capital of the world, Weifang is a popular tourist destination. The annual Weifang Inter-national Kite Festival has been held in the city for 31 consecutive years since 1984. But the city is also an emerging economic hub in the Shandong Penin-sula, which lies between the Bohai and Huanghai seas.

For those looking for investment and business opportunities, the special report will bring you the latest in trade and investment news, industrial devel-opments and company updates from this dynamic region.

Founded in 1991, the Weifang High-Tech Industrial Development Zone ranks No 25 in comprehensive strength among the high-tech zones nationwide. The zone has created a high-end indus-trial cluster that covers the auto manu-facturing, acoustic and electronic, soft-ware, biopharmaceutical, semiconduc-tor lighting and 3-D printing industries.

The zone is an ideal environment for entrepreneurship and innovation and has already attracted a large pool of talent from home and abroad.

Our stories will shed light on the Weifang High-Tech Industrial Develop-ment Zone and help enterprises within the zone tap into the international mar-ket.

By WANG XIANLINGFor China Daily

China Daily and the Weifang High-Tech Industrial Development Zone are working together to tell the story of the pioneering zone and its people.

I’d like to express my warm con-gratulations on the launch of the special English version of a report on high-tech to be co-published by China Daily and the Weifang High-Tech Industrial Development Zone.

Weifang is well known around the world as the “home of kites”. The city held its first international kite festival in 1984, which attract-ed an ardent gathering of interna-tional hobbyists. Following the fly-ing kites, friends from around the world come to our city to look for greater cooperation. International cooperation with Weifang has been substantially enriched during the past 30 years.

Weifang has been included in two regional development programs sponsored by the central govern-ment — the Yellow River Delta High-efficient Ecological Economic Zone and the Shandong Peninsula Marine Economic Zone.

The city has earned a bouquet of honors including being named a National Civilization City, National Health City, National Garden City, China’s Excellent Tourism City,

National Intellectual Property Dem-onstration City, China Human Set-tlement and Environment Award and a China’s Top 10 City with Inno-vative Capability.

Founded in 1991, the Weifang High-Tech Industrial Development Zone was among the first batch of State-approved high-tech parks and has been named one of China’s National Sustainable Communi-ties. Our team is honored as an advanced collective by the Ministry of Science and Technology for our efforts in developing the zone sus-tainably for 20 years.

Positioned 25th among Chinese high-tech zones in terms of com-prehensive strength, the zone has developed into Weifang’s center for economic, political and cultural courses. It is also leading the city’s internationalization.

Providing openness, comfortable living standards and a sound envi-ronment to start one’s career, the zone is working hard to achieve its third entrepreneurship course within scientific, global and envi-ronmental standards. It aims to be listed among the top 20 high-tech zones in China and to be a leading global player in a number of sectors.

The zone is home to several inno-vative platforms including Blue Wisdom Valley and career-start-ing platforms for overseas high-end professionals. In addition to

branches developed by Tsinghua University, Peking University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the zone has links to InnoSpring in Silicon Valley, providing one-stop, all-around services for business operators.

With the characters of openness, inclusiveness and comfortable liv-ing, the zone is working hard to create more global platforms.

We hope that with the help of China Daily, an authoritative plat-form for international communica-tions, the report on high-tech can become an important window for foreigners to get information about the zone.

The report will show the eco-nomic achievements of the Wei-fang High-Tech Industrial Zone as a national demonstration zone in the field of high-tech industries. It should also fully demonstrate the spirit of the openness, pioneering spirit and hardworking nature of our people.

I truly envision that the collabo-ration will be a successful example of win-win integration and interac-tion between State media and a regional government.

The author is deputy secretary of the CPC Weifang committee and secretary of the CPC Weifang High-Tech Development Zone Com-mittee.

High-tech reportA JOINT PUBLICATION OF CHINA DAILY AND STATE WEIFANG HIGH-TECH INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT ZONE

12 Wednesday, July 1, 2015

A landmark in win-win collaboration

Workers assemble a car at Beiqi Foton Motor’s multifunctional factory in Weifang.

Weifang High-Tech Industrial Development Zone’s semiconductor light-emitting devices production base is among the first approved in the country.

Sun Xunyun and his team researched and developed high-silicon photoresist, breaking an international monopoly. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

Staff members at Zhong Dong Media produce an animated sequence.

To comment or contribute, please e-mail wangqian2@

chinadaily.com.cnor call +86-531-58775018.

Park increases global competitiveness by fostering business growth

Blue Wisdom Valley is one of the innovative platforms housed in the Weifang High-Tech Industrial Development Zone. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

Shedding light on a developing industrial zone

For those looking for investment and business opportunities, the spe-cial report will bring you the latest ... from this dynamic region.”Sun Shangwu, board member, China Daily

CHINA DAILY