Beijing starts construction of Zhongguancun Science City

Zhongguancun Science City's first batch of 11 projects launched at the Beijing University of Science and Technology Thursday, officially kicking off construction of Beijing's Zhongguancun Science City. The area will be built into China's most influential innovation center of technology in the next few years.

Secretary of the municipal Party committee Liu Qi, Mayor Guo Jinlong and other Party and leading government officials attended the ceremony.

Beijing Municipality decided to construct Zhongguancun Science City with the aim of building the district, also known as China's Silicon Valley, into an influential global innovation center.

It will cover five major advanced science fields: networking, life sciences, aerospace, new materials and new energy. The integration of production, teaching, research and use will be promoted in the construction of Zhongguancun Science City in a variety of approaches.

Beijing municipality will also promote the transformation and industrialization of scientific and technological achievements in this area and encourage creative vitality through resource optimization and integration, institution creation and urban planning and management innovation. The final object is to make into a six-in-one area composed of universities, institutes, high-tech enterprises, top-level talents, social organizations and government.

With a total area of 75 square kilometers covering Zhongguancun Street, Zhichun Road and around Xue Yuan Road regions, the Zhongguancun Science City will become the national demonstration zone of Zhongguancun core innovation area.

More than 20 universities including Tsinghua University and Peking University stand here as well as more than 100 national research institutions, including the Chinese Academy of Science, China Aerospace Science & Technology Corporation, Lenovo Group and more than 6,000 other high-tech enterprises are also located in this area.

More than 500 academicians are now working here, which is about 36 percent of the total number nationwide. And by 2015, the total revenue of Zhongguancun Science City is expected to be more than 1 trillion yuan.

By Zhao Chenyan, People's Daily Online