Regional integration brings innovative companies to Tianjin, Hebei

BEIJING - Zhu Xiduo and his team recently moved from Beijing's technology hub Zhongguancun to a new science park in neighboring Tianjin Municipality.

"Here in the park, we have access to the same resources, expertise and talents," Zhu said. "With governmental policies, we have huge potential."

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regional integration program is gaining steam, with many innovative entrepreneurs moving their companies from Beijing to new industrial parks in Hebei and Tianjin for better development.

According to latest official statistics, in the first seven months of this year, 687 companies from Beijing have set up branches in Tianjin and Hebei, averaging 3.2 per day.

China unveiled coordinated development plans for Beijing and its two neighboring areas -- Tianjin Municipality and Hebei Province -- in 2015.

Under the plans, China will build Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei into an international city cluster and "create a new growth engine" by boosting technological innovation in the area.

The government aims to have technology input, with research and development costs accounting for at least 3.5 percent of total gross domestic product of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei by the end of 2020.

NEW SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY PARKS

Zhu and his team are among the first batch of firms to move into the Tianjin Binhai--Zhongguancun Science Park, located at the Bohai Bay Rim with an area of 10.3 square kilometers.

A total of 45 firms from Zhongguancun, including Zhu's company, have moved into the park, bringing a total investment of 35 billion yuan (about 5 billion U.S. dollars). The companies focus on industries such as mobile Internet, health and medicine, cross-border e-commerce and finance.

Zhongguancun is known as "China's Silicon Valley." Some famous companies such as Founder Group and Lenovo Group started in Zhongguancun. Many world-renowned technology companies built their Chinese headquarters and research centers in the park such as Google, Intel and Sony.

"In the future, hundreds of scientific research institutes in Tianjin and Hebei can share innovation resources with firms in Beijing through video. They can get first-hand innovation information and services like in Zhongguancun," Zhu said.

Officials with Tianjin Municipality said the Tianjin Binhai--Zhongguancun Science Park will work as a bridge to introduce innovation resources and talent, especially innovative service concepts and experience from Zhongguancun to promote innovation in Tianjin.

It is a similar scene in Hebei, where clusters of companies have moved in.

In Cangzhou, for example, more than 65 medical companies from Beijing have recently moved into an industrial garden.

"It is a trend to move Beijing's projects to Tianjin or Hebei," said Zhang Dexin, who has moved to Tianjin to start a company. "In Beijing, there is a great academic environment, but if we want to do business, we need to rely on manufacturing, which Tianjin and Hebei both have advantages in."