The administrative committee of the Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone announced on June 24 that the zone has been upgraded to a State-level innovation demonstration area, the first of its kind in West China.

China has eight State-level innovation demonstration areas. Beijing's Zhongguancun industrial park, which was established in the 1980s, is the first, with others scattered across the nation in cities and provinces of Wuhan, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Jiangsu, Tianjin and Hunan.

The eighth national innovation demonstration area, the Chengdu high-tech zone will explore new initiatives in entrepreneurship, technology commercialization, talented personnel introduction, intellectual property management and protection, combinations of science and finance, and the integration of industries and city development.

The area, founded in 1988 in Sichuan province, is one of the first high-tech zones in the country.

Since its establishment, the zone has been eyeing how to become a State-level innovation demonstration zone. To reach that goal, the city and provincial governments both made ample efforts.

In September 2014, for example, the Sichuan government launched 10 policies to boost innovation, such as encouraging local researchers and technicians to start their own businesses and improving the scientific and technological innovation service system.

The zone has made strides in recent years, especially in innovation capacity. Last year it ranked third among national high-tech zones for innovation, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

It has also won many other honors, such as being named a national IP demonstration area, a copyright protection demonstration area and a demonstration area for building famous brands.

"The zone's approval as a State-level innovation demonstration area is of strategic importance to western China in accelerating its industrial transformation, and to inland areas in exploring new innovation-driven development approaches," Fan Yi, director of the zone's administrative committee, told local news portal newssc.org.

With its new standing, the zone could also better implement the latest of national strategy to develop western China by giving full play to its advantages in scientific innovation and industrial development, he added.

The administrative committee is now working on the zone's next five-year plan, which covers 2016 to 2020.

According to the plan, the national innovation demonstration area will serve as an important growth base in the Yangtze River Delta Economic Zone and also be built into a world-class high-tech zone by 2020 to support the development of western China's creative and innovation industries, Fan said.

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(China Daily 07/08/2015 page17)