Dongsheng tech park an innovation 'incubator'

Founded in 2010, Dongsheng Technology Park is already home to more than 80 enterprises and their 7,500 staff members.

Dongsheng Technology Park was a garbage dump a decade ago. Today it has risen from refuse to refinement as an incubation hub for high-tech companies who found a home in northeast corner of Haidian district.

Since it began operations in 2010, Donsheng's 200,000 square meter first phase looks like a park in the countryside. It is more than 50 percent covered by replanted forest.

The area already has more than 80 enterprises and their 7,500 staff members along with has three State-level labs. Some 347 patents have come out of operations in the park.

And more than 18,000 people are expected to be working at the Dongsheng facility by the end of the year.

"The major attribute of Dongsheng is that both accelerator and incubator services are in the same park," said Liu Yajie, general manager of the park, an approach reflected in the developer's name - Beijing Dongsheng Technology Accelerator and Incubator Co.

Many enterprises in the park are in the top rank of domestic high-tech industries. It is the home to the research center for the giant State-owned power company State Grid.

As part of Haidian Park, Dongsheng is the result of Zhongguancun's northern expansion that further develops its cluster of high-tech industries.

Along with its good relationship with government offices in Haidian district, the Dongsheng park provides property management, living and business services, as well as lending and other financing services.

It also helps connect high-tech enterprises with Zhongguancun's rich talent pool. Noted professors are brought in to help enterprises solve problems. Internship opportunities are offered to top students who turn the latest knowledge into practice.

The park also has agreements with eight banks to offer favorable-interest loans.

In 2011, the park generated 3 billion yuan ($472.5 million) in revenue from rents, property management fees and other services.

Three maturing enterprises in the park are now preparing for public stock listings.

When the second and third phases of the park are finished, it is projected to cover 3million sq m, Liu told China Daily.

Liu said the park's growth would not be possible without support from Haidian Park and the district government, which offer favorable policies such as crucial hukou residency registration for talented professionals and their families.

The park now has agreements with the district's top primary schools to ensure children of senior managers are admitted more easily than before.

The development also organizes football matches for its companies and hosts two investor matchmaking meetings every year.

A five-star hotel is even under construction in the "Northern Territory" - the name on a tablet at the front of Dongsheng Technology Park.

xuxiao@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 09/11/2012 page7)