Beijing launches platform to boost cultural cooperation

The Beijing Cultural Investment Think Tank Platform was launched in Beijing last month to boost cultural cooperation between China and the United States.

The platform will offer support to cultural development by providing industry reports, big data and experiences from ongoing cultural projects, according to the organizers.

The platform is a joint effort of Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Research Institute of Urban Science, a science research center in Beijing and the US Digital Entertainment Group, among others.

"We would offer more trend analysis in our reports rather than regional analysis to help businesses determine development directions in the years to come," Amy Jo Smith, president of the US Digital Entertainment Group, said at the 2018 Global Cultural and Creative Industry Partner Conference, where the platform was announced.

The four-day meeting covered seminars and discussions on film, animation, performance and intellectual property, and participants discussed cooperation models for the culture industry.

A competition was also initiated that would foster a talented team of musicians.

The idea is to give training to talent through the competition, and then introduce music from Tennessee to the Chinese mainland, says Liu Linna, executive director of the Chinese office with Tennessee China Development Center.

"It's our expectation to truly push forward international high-end development of the Chinese music industry," Liu says.

The meeting was held as part of China's efforts to boost cooperation in the international cultural and creative industry.

The added value of culture and related industries hit 3.54 trillion yuan ($515.5 billion) in China last year, accounting for 4.29 percent of the GDP, says Li Yong, an official with the Ministry of Commerce's investment promotion agency.

Li says since its establishment, the agency has signed 88 cooperation memorandums on bilateral investment promotion with 51 countries and regions, and is developing a cross-border cooperation platform for themed industries. Beijing has also taken a lead in cultural industry development.

A series of policies, including encouraging the use of old factories to build cultural spaces and the development of brick-and-mortar bookstores, have been launched to optimize a culture business environment in the capital, says Yu Junsheng, deputy secretary-general with the Beijing municipal government.

Special zones for the cultural and creative industry have been established over the years.

The Cultural Assets Supervision and Administration Office has set up an investment and financing system, which has helped to raise more than 10 billion yuan for culture enterprises, says its office director Zhao Lei.

"As long as investment institutes and platforms support cultural and creative industry development, we'll offer rewards and interest and rental discounts," Zhao says.

Those efforts have seen Beijing's culture businesses rake in 567.2 billion yuan in the first seven months of the year, up 15.9 percent year-on-year, according to Yu.

"We're looking forward to having more culture programs and gaining experiences, from them," Yu says.