National

Regional

Taiwan, HK, Macao

Special Coverage

Focus

Society

Profiles

Robust growth through purified water

By Yang Cheng (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-11 08:13

An illustration of a water treatment and scenery project along with the Bird's Nest launched by OrginWater, covering 165,000 sq m.

To be in Haidian is to be better positioned for the world.

- Slogan for the Zhongguancun Haidian Science Park

The saying reflects a common dream of ambitious entrepreneurs at the park - to join the ranks of internationally competitive hi-tech companies that are revolutionizing business in almost all sectors. Some might even dream of changing the world.

Wen Jianping, chairman of Beijing OriginWater Technology Co Ltd, is one of park's promising trailblazers who has developed a visionary product.

He has built the company into one of only three in the world that can make state-of-the-art membrane bioreactors to purify water.

Wen chose Zhongguancun for his base at the company's startup after earning his PhD in Australia in 2001,

"It (Zhongguancun Haidian Science Park) is a land to realize my dream. For people who hope to industrialize their technology, they need a strong cultural atmosphere and a broad international horizon."

More often simply called Haidian park, it one of the nation's first "core" independent innovation sites, and a place Wen says was ideal for his enterprise to evolve.

Haidian park is the leading area in the larger Zhongguancun Science Park, which was one of the first national innovation "model" parks. It has five parks under its administration.

Haidian park's national status shows it has great backing and strength.

"It has a top policy environment and tailored services for enterprises," Wen said.

What impresses him most is "the administrative committee's sincere support for enterprises exploring their markets".

From his perspective, preferential policies supply "nourishment", but real support at the park comes through assistance in acquiring more business, often in an intensely competitive environment with foreign counterparts.

The Beijing municipal government began a program this year to purchase independently innovative products from Zhongguancun park on trial basis. Most of the products were born at Haidian park.

The approach has given hi-tech companies more opportunities along with recognition of independent property rights and research. The municipal procurement plan also helps shoulder some of the park administration's risk.

Wen and other entrepreneurs laud the move. He was delighted that OriginWater won the bid on a 60 million yuan water treatment plant on the Beixiaohe River north of the fourth ring road in Beijing. He said the company can help the government save hefty funds and create a much cleaner water environment in China's capital city.

The first phase of project was built by German engineering giant Siemens, one of OriginWater's top rivals.

Another opportunity came through a visit by Wen and some 30 company delegates to Wuxi in Jiangsu province last year led by the park's administrative committee.

The Wuxi city government found Wen's water treatment technology would improve its water environment and inked a project with OriginWater.

"Before the official trip, we had tried very hard to knock down the doors of local authorities - but generally they didn't believe in my technology," he said.

The chairman said he is not only a beneficiary, but also a real witness to Zhongguancun's rapid development.

Wen has seen enterprises "evolve from small to giant, from strength to strength, and their vision became much broader".

"The industrial structure has been upgraded," Wen said. "In its early days, the park was a concentration of IT enterprises, but it has now developed a complete industrial mix including new energy, environmental and cultural companies," Wen noted.

Rapid development

Eight years ago Wen set up his company in Zhongguancun with a registered capital of 2 million yuan, which has now grown to 110 million yuan. The company's net profits hit 70 million yuan last year, and driven by follow-on income from projects associated with 2008 Olympics Games, is expected to exceed 80 million yuan for 2009

OriginWater now has 60 percent of the market for such water purification equipment in China. Its main rivals are Siemens and a subsidiary of Dow Chemical Co, which have exported their technologies to the Chinese market for decades.

OriginWater has won a number of accolades including as National Innovation Enterprise, the 2006 and 2007 Excellent Environment Engineering Company and named to Forbes magazine's list of China "Up and Comers" in 2009.

Its projects include the water treatment system for the National Center for the Performing Arts and an important Olympic infrastructure project that brought water from the Wenyu River to the Chaobai River in Beijing.

The project is now the world's largest facility using membrane bioreactors to treat 100,000 tons of water daily, significantly improving the city's water quality, scenic setting and underground water.

OriginWater also built the nation's first membrane bioreactor wastewater treatment facility, in Miyun county in Beijing, which can handle 45,000 tons of effluent a day.

It is planning to build a 14,000-sq-m R&D lab at the Life Science Park in Zhongguancun expected to go into operation next August.

It also has a 55,000-sq-m fabrication facility in Huairou county that required an investment of 500 million yuan.

Wen said his company's bottleneck now is its current production scale, which if it can be expanded at faster pace, will enable the company to extend its reach further, and then overseas.

The chairman has been able to attract many top professionals who were laid of by rival international companies due to the global financial crisis.

In the company's early years, Wen did extensive research as part of a plan to take OrginWater public on an overseas market.

He still has the data and plan and hopes to list the company on Growth Enterprise Board in Shenzhen.

Wen was invited to this year's Davos Forum, but cannot attend due to work commitments. Market insiders say he often keeps low profile and is dedicated to his company's progress.