The southwestern city of Guiyang is attracting at least 43.7 billion yuan ($7.14 billion) in investment from Zhongguancun, China's "Silicon Valley", according to the mayor of Guiyang.

More than 50 companies based in Zhongguancun, the hub of the information technology industry in northwestern Beijing, are planning to establish businesses in Guiyang later this year, Li Zaiyong said.

The investments include the IT, biotechnology and electronics manufacturing sectors.

"Guiyang is expecting the high-tech sector to boost the city's economy, and we welcome IT firms in Beijing who are bringing their technologies to this vibrant city," he said.

City planners said introducing high-tech industry is the best way to power its economy without damaging the local environment.

The forest coverage rate in Guiyang is 43.2 percent, well above the national average. The city of 4 million people is the capital of the less-developed yet fast-growing Guizhou province.

The GDP of Guizhou hit 325 billion yuan in the first half of this year, an increase of 12.5 percent year-on-year, the government said. The increase was the highest in China.

Earlier this year, Guiyang agreed to build an industrial park for Zhongguancun companies. The park will host most of the IT, high-end equipment manufacturing, pharmaceutical and electronics companies in coming years.

"Zhongguancun will help Guiyang build an ecosystem suitable for startup companies and provide support for local companies to set up research and development facilities in Beijing," said Bai Zhiyong, deputy director of the Administrative Committee of the Zhongguancun Science Park.

Longmaster Information and Technology Co - a Guiyang-based Internet enterprise that claims it is ready to challenge Tencent Holdings Ltd's popular instant messaging service WeChat - is one of the first Guizhou companies to move R&D to Beijing.

The company, listed on the growth enterprise board in Shenzhen, has employed about 100 developers in Zhongguancun.

Human resources is one of the strong points of the park and the large numbers of IT-trained personnel are also ready to serve non-Beijing companies, Bai said.

He added that the committee will also help Guiyang-based technology companies raise investment in the capital market.

"Guiyang has a number of companies that are ready to carry out IPOs. We are willing to provide our fund raising platform to them," said Bai.

The partnership is the latest answer to the State Council's policies to boost the slowing economy using the cutting-edge technologies.

China has issued a series of plans to lift the nation's technology level in traditional industries such as manufacturing, agriculture and telecommunications.

Zhongguancun, the biggest and oldest technology zone in China, where more than 20,000 startups and 220 listed IT corporations are located, will be a major driver for the nation's ongoing industrial transformation and upgrading process.

Officials in the zone said Zhongguancun is aiming at 1.6 trillion yuan in revenue by 2015 and hoping to host at least 55 Chinese enterprises listed outside the Chinese mainland.

Zhou Weimin, director of the Beijing Investment Promotion Bureau, said Zhongguancun is looking to shift its major business from manufacturing to innovation. The decision may also release some of the manufacturing outputs to other cities including Guiyang.

gaoyuan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 08/29/2013 page16)