Favorable Resources and Policies to Enable Xixian New Area in Shaanxi Province to Become a Center of Scientific and Technological Innovation in Western China

The weather becomes warmer and spring is evident everywhere in Xixian New Area, where enterprises and industrial parks focus on scientific and technological innovation. Project construction in Xixian New Area is accelerating in 2022. New opportunities offered by Qinchuangyuan, the province’s innovation platform, speeds up industrial development, enabling this open and innovative city to align with the world with strong momentum.

In the first quarter of 2022, Xixian New Area signed 48 projects through the combination of online and offline channels, with a total investment of RMB 86.046 billion, and introduced ten Fortune 500 companies, six Top 500 enterprises of China and three Top 500 enterprises in industry, according to Xixian New Area Administrative Committee.

Shaanxi is a province with abundant science and education resources. In order to transform its technological advantages into economic advantages, in March 2021, the construction of the Qinchuangyuan innovation platform was launched. This platform will serve as an incubator for collaboration, an accelerator for commercialization, and a booster for integration, so that universities, research institutes and enterprises can participate in it and jointly promote the industrialization of scientific and technological achievements. The headquarters of Qinchuangyuan is located in Xixian New Area.

In the past year, Xixian New Area has focused on implementation of provincial and municipal plans and expended great effort in building the Qinchuangyuan headquarters. As a result, the number of national high-tech enterprises has increased by 53%, new small- and medium-sized technology enterprises have grown by 48%, and technology contract transactions have increased by 34% there. The New Area ranks first among the 65 pilot units nationwide in the formation of Innovation China. The effect of combination of these initiatives and the leading innovation role played by the Qinchuangyuan headquarters have strengthened at high speed.

Resource agglomeration showing the demonstration effect

In order to accelerate the gathering of scientific and technological initiatives and stimulate development momentum, Shaanxi Province, Xi’an Municipality and Xixian New Area have all introduced supportive policies over the past year. Among them, Xixian New Area has released 15 inclusive policies and measures for the needs of technology enterprises, entrepreneurial talents, innovation platforms, intermediary agencies and other sectors. Investors that introduce technology-based projects to the Qinchuangyuan headquarter will be rewarded with 1% (up to RMB 3 million) of the actual investment when the enterprises are established and reach production capacity as agreed.

In 2021, 431 technology enterprises were introduced into Xixian New Area; 901 new small- and medium-sized technology enterprises were established, and technology contract transactions reached RMB 10.704 billion. Innovation vitality continued to rise and the innovation ecosystem continued to improve, resulting in the aggregation effect of science and technology innovation.

“As the location of the headquarter of the Qinchuangyuan innovation platform, Xixian New Area promotes the joint construction of innovation platforms by enterprises, entrepreneurial and innovation investors, and universities. The New Area focuses on a technological innovation system in which ‘enterprises play the leading role, the market is the guide, and industry, universities, research institutes and applications are integrated’. There will be continuous improvement in the ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship, and the agglomeration of a range of innovative initiatives will be accelerated,” said Yang Renhua, Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Xixian New Area and Leader of the Qinchuangyuan Innovation Platform Construction Leading Group in the New Area.

Xia Baojun, a representative of enterprises participating in the Cloud Signing at the beginning of this year, said that since the launch of Qinchuangyuan, innovation resources have been increasingly drawn to Xixian New Area, including leading state-owned enterprises and technological innovation services covering finance, law and human resources. This trend has strengthened the confidence of enterprises in developing here, I believe that in the future, more world-class enterprises will take root here and share industry cluster resources.

Collaborative innovation to generate strong momentum

Innovative parks such as Fengdong Free Trade Industrial Park and Western Cloud Valley of Fengxi New City to the north of the Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi are thriving.

On both sides of the Weihe River, innovation platforms such as the Western China Science and Technology Innovation Harbour and the “Soaring Town” of Northwestern Polytechnical University are bursting with vitality, providing a constant flow of talent and intellectual support for Qinchuangyuan.

Along with the fast-tracked establishment of the Qinchuangyuan innovation platform the number of scientific and technological innovation enterprises has mushroomed, and an increasing number of local scientific research achievements are being locally transformed into products. In 2021, Xixian New Area explored a “batch authorization model” for the transformation of innovative achievements with Xi’an Jiaotong University and other universities. A platform of scientific and technological achievements transformation was jointly built with six universities, such as Xidian University. It integrates more than 4,000 large scientific research instruments using an online scientific and technological resource sharing platform, staged 58 road shows and promoted 191 achievement projects.

To date, Qinchuangyuan’s technology brokers have processed in excess of 800 high-quality scientific research achievements. Contracts for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements have been signed with more than 120 enterprises. This was effectively enabled by cooperation with 14 universities, including Xi’an Jiaotong University and Northwestern Polytechnical University, and seven research institutes including the 39th Research Institute of the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation.

At the beginning of spring this year, many science and technology innovation enterprises in Western Cloud Valley Phase II in Fengxi New City were busy with scientific research and production, aiming to capitalize on the peak season for orders. At Shaanxi Jukang Gaobo Medical Technology Co., Ltd., the wheels were running at full speed and machines were moving rhythmically, on which mechanical testing of a 3D-printed human dummy was underway.

Yang Chuncheng, general manager of Shaanxi JuKang Gaobo Medical Technology Co., Ltd, said that relying on the Qinchuangyuan innovation platform, a team headed by Professor Li Dichen from Xi’an Jiaotong University completed the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and registered a company for the Controllable Precision Bone-making Project. Innovation support and achievement transformation policies, along with fee exemptions, in the industrial park have boosted the team’s R&D momentum.

With the help of the Qinchuangyuan innovation platform, various market players, universities and institutes are engaging in comprehensive interactions, and Qinchuangyuan is pressing forward with high-quality development.

Attracting talents to enhance innovation vitality

In order to enable Qinchuangyuan to attract high-end talents, Shaanxi Province plans to accelerate the introduction of high-end foreign experts this year. A model based on “employment by universities, use by enterprises, and subsidies by the government” will be deployed, and there will be significant support for enterprises for the introduction of high-level talents from China and abroad. A number of overseas offshore innovation centers and intelligence introduction service centers will be built to expand the channels for overseas high-end talents to come to China for cooperative research and academic exchange.

On March 14, Xixian New Area issued the Qinchuangyuan Innovative Talents Plan to facilitate an orderly flow of talents and form an attractive option for innovation and development in Qinchuangyuan. According to the Plan, recognized talents will be rewarded with 100% funding for three consecutive years, based on their personal financial contribution in the previous year. In particular, talent projects funded by national, provincial and municipal authorities will be supported by a combination of equity investment and financial aid. A funding of up to 50% of the total will be given, with a maximum of RMB 1 million.

“We will adhere to the principle of ‘enterprises as the main body, talents as the main force, market as the main guide and government as the main driver’. We will accelerate the solicitation and cultivation of key enterprises, pool together resources from state-owned enterprises, universities, institutes and the city of Xi’an, strongly encourage coordinated development, accelerate the construction of the Qinchuangyuan headquarters, and provide strong support for high-quality development of Shaanxi Province and Xi’an city,” said Jiang Jianchun, Director of the Xixian New Area Administrative Committee and Executive Deputy Leader of the Qinchuangyuan Innovation Platform Construction Leading Group in the New Area.

Gathering high-end initiative resources globally, a more open Xixian New Area is growing rapidly.

Source: Xixian New Area Administrative Committee