The average income of staff in Zhongguancun Science Park hit 1.61 million yuan ($260,000) last year and total revenue for the region was more than 3 trillion yuan, according to the 2014 Zhongguancun Index released during the 2014 Zhongguancun Forum.

Zhongguancun Science Park has long valued its rich talent pool.

There were nearly half a million scientific and technological staff working in the park in 2013, which accounted for 26.3 percent of all employees in Zhongguancun, according to the index.

Spending for scientific and technological events reached about 132 billion yuan in 2013, a 28.1 percent rise from 2012.

More than 10,000 overseas staff, including those from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, worked in the park last year, which was an increase of 39.5 percent from 2012, according to the report.

Zhongguancun saw rapid development of its economy in 2013.

The amount of value added products in the region was 422.77 billion yuan last year, a 15.9 percent rise from 2012, according to the index.

It accounted for 21.7 percent of Beijing's GDP in 2013.

Six major indexes used to evaluate Zhongguancun's power all hit historical highs in the survey by the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, the Zhongguancun Innovation Development Institute and the Beijing Fangdi Economic Development Research Institute.

The indexes included the innovation environment, innovation capacity, industrial development, enterprise growth, internationalization level and radiation capacity, which measured the region's capacity to drive other industries and neighboring areas.

The park's internationalization level ranked the highest of all the indexes.

International presence

Currently, 2,654 foreign experts, who were selected by the Zhongguancun park and the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, work in firms in the park. The experts accounted for nearly a quarter of the zone's total foreign staff, according to the report.

A total of 98 Fortune 500 firms, including Intel, Microsoft and Siemens, set up branches and research institutes in the park.

By the end of 2013, the zone had lured 52 international innovation service institutes and industrial organizations and associations to the area.

Park exports hit $33.6 billion in 2013, a surge of 28.5 percent from the previous year and a historical high following the financial crunch in 2008.

Exports of technologies and services hit $4 billion, a 16.7 percent increase from the previous year, according to the index.

A total of 2,155 patents were applied for under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, a rise of 44.7 percent from 2012.

A total of 427 patents were collectively authorized by the European Union, the United States and Japan, an increase of 16.7 percent from the previous year.

Zhao Hong, vice-president of the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, noted that Zhongguancun had made great strides to "go global", however, he said its competitive strength in the international market was still very weak.

"Most of the firms there are still engaged in the product trade and very few have forayed into capital expansion," he said.

The researcher noted that under the backdrop of global innovation, firms in Zhongguancun should better allocate innovation resources throughout the world and become part of global technological industrial chains.

Contact the writers at wangsujuan@chinadaily.com.cn and songmengxing@chinadaily.com.cn