German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG yesterday launched a new research facility in China as part of its intensifying research and development (R&D) activities in the country.

The facility, known as Siemens China Corporate Technology, will be one of Siemens' two largest research bases outside its home country, underlining the growing role that China is playing in terms of the company's research work.

Siemens will invest 800 million yuan (US$101 million) in the Beijing-based research facility over the coming three to five years to expand its size and research capabilities, according to Arding Hsu, head of Siemens China Corporate Technology.

Meanwhile, the 200-strong facility plans to recruit 100 additional researchers by 2008.

The launch of the new facility is part of a trend in which multinationals, having long regarded China as a manufacturing base and a huge market, are increasingly transferring their R&D activities to the country.

Siemens, which is famous for its innovations, already operates 16 R&D and software centres in China, covering all of its business areas such as automatic control, power, healthcare and lighting.

Siemens China Corporate Technology will focus on "developing sustainable innovations for sustainable profit in the fast-changing world," said Hsu.

Siemens has identified many "mega trends," such as urbanization and demographic change, which offer major challenges in terms of infrastructure, healthcare and shaping tomorrow's market.

The newly launched China research facility will focus on research fields such as energy, environment, automation, public/private infrastructure and healthcare, all of which are essential to solving challenges posed by urbanization and an ageing population.

Technology giants such as IBM and Microsoft have also established research institutes in China, as well as various R&D centres focusing on product development.

Such research institutes largely focus on developing future technologies and basic research, underlining that China is becoming a new hotbed of advanced technological research for global technology companies.

Last year, Siemens filed for more than 1,000 patents in China, becoming one of the multinationals with the largest number of patent filings in the country.

According to a report by the World Intellectual Property Organization, a United Nations agency, patent filing in China has increased sevenfold over the past 10 years. In 2004, half of the filings were by foreign companies.

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