Chengdu boosts innovation efforts in new economy

Chengdu, the capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province, is nurturing innovation in the new economy to create a powerhouse for regional economic development.

The city's recent move to open up registration for companies as part of the first batch of innovation-application experimental labs and future scene labs is an important part of its efforts to buoy innovation. Officials said this will help with the development of businesses in the new economy.

The Chengdu New Economic Development Commission, the initiator of the two lab projects, said companies will receive investment or subsidies worth up to 2 million yuan ($285,695) upon approval.

The commission also announced a series of criteria to select the companies. In order to be selected into Chengdu's innovation-application experimental labs, companies whose annual income was lower than 10 million yuan last year should have an investment in research and development that accounted for 5 percent of their total revenue or higher.

For companies whose income ranged from 10 million yuan to 50 million yuan, they should have investment in research and development at no less than 4 percent of last year's revenue. The percentage of research investment should be no less than 3 percent for companies whose revenue exceeded 50 million yuan last year.

Other criteria for companies to be selected in the innovation-application experimental labs include having no less than five professionals working full-time in science and technology research. They also must have a three-to five-year development plan.

Priority in selection will be given companies those in emerging industries such as blockchain, satellite remote sensing, big data, and many others, the commission said.

Yang Quan, head of the department of promotion for industries under the Chengdu New Economic Development Commission, said the move will play an important role in promoting new technologies and emerging industries while facilitating their practical uses in urban development.

Yang said the two lab projects will offer more opportunities in the development of small and medium-sized companies in the new economy. This will help form relatively mature industry clusters to boost the local economy.

"The two lab projects also encourage companies to cooperate and create a synergistic effect. Through various collaborations, companies can continue nurturing their strengths and make up for shortages. We expect further breakthroughs of those companies to move up the global value chain," Yang said.

The recently released New Economic Scenario Theory Research by the Institution of New Economic Development (iNED) also offered guidelines on product applications and business development in new economy, Yang added.

Chengdu's promotion of the two lab projects, together with iNED's research on the new economy, was part of concerted efforts in promoting the new economy in Chengdu.

The city's supportive measures to boost the new economy have benefited numerous companies, with Chengdu Haier Sen Hospital being one of them.

With support from the Chengdu Healthcare Security Administration, Chengdu Haier Sen Hospital was able to develop multiple payment channels and connect with online medical insurance systems. They could offer convenient medicare services to patients, which include online follow-up diagnosis and medicine purchases.

Wang Shirui, founder and CEO of chronic disease management platform Medlinker, said Chengdu Haier Sen Hospital's move offered remote and contactless medical treatment to patients, marking an important step in the development of internet medical treatment.

Another company, DiDaNo Technology, was able to dispatch its healthcare robots to over 100 kindergartens in Chengdu for test runs, with support from the local government.

DiDaNo CEO Xu Bo said the Chengdu government's measures to promote the new economy offered an environment of relatively fair competition for numerous businesses to test their cutting-edge technologies and products in different scenarios.

To date, DiDaNo's products have been successfully promoted in Chengdu and other cities such as Wuhan, Hangzhou and Beijing.