Chengdu, Sichuan province has committed to strengthening communication and cooperation with Belt and Road countries to better support the city's innovative climate.

Slush, a startup event and community operator in Finland, joined hands with the Innovation Center of Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone and the European Union Project Innovation Center to launch a global startup event named Slush Up! Chengdu during the Finland Global Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conference on May 12.

The Finland Global Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conference was a major event during the 2017 China Chengdu Global Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fair.

Online project competitions, speeches from established enterprises, new product releases, on-site roadshows and other activities centering on information and commu-nication technology, artificial intelligence, games, media communication and innovative industry were held during the event period.

Slush programs have been successfully held in Helsinki, Tokyo, Beijing, Singapore and Shanghai in recent years. This Chengdu event is the first to be held in China in 2017.

The partnership between China and Finland started when Nokia Siemens Networks Technology (Beijing) launched a branch in Tianfu Software Park.

Nokia's global technology development center, launched in Chengdu Science City in 2016, focusing on developing fourth-generation technology and mobile telecommunica-tion systems.

Chengdu is also working to strengthen cooperation with France and Germany, aiming to boost its innovation ability and capacity.

Bosch started construction of a new production base for its power tool division in the Sino-German SME Cooperation Park in Pujiang county. The total investment will exceed 180 million yuan ($26.12 million).

The plant will mainly produce packaging machinery, hand-held electric tools and desktop electric tools. It is expected to generate an annual output value of 500 million yuan.

Mao Yongjiu, an official in Pujiang county, revealed that the industrial park has attracted more than 50 businesses engaged in the manu-facturing of precision machines and related industries. Bosch plans to locate its packaging technology development center for the Asia-Pacific region in the industrial park.

The Ministry of Industry and Information named the technology park one of China's five demonstration zones for Sino-German SME cooperation.

Mao said the park operators will strive to attract more than 100 foreign-invested companies to the park by 2020. The industrial throughput of those companies will reach 10 billion yuan.

The Sino-France Ecology Park is a national-level project to strengthen ties between China and France. The park, located in the east of Chengdu, occupies an area of 57.8 square kilometers.

It is home to Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile Company's fourth plant. With a total investment of 12.3 billion yuan, the facility is capable of producing 360,000 vehicles per year.

"The park is eyeing emerging industries such as new energy, new materials and high-end equipment. It is also looking to strengthen partnerships with French companies in ecological building construction and the energy saving and environmental protection sectors," said Zhou Lin, director of business promotion office of the ecology park.

"We have set a goal to develop the park into a green and low-carbon demonstration project," Zhou said.

(China Daily 05/14/2017 page18)