New incubation park for overseas Chinese set to boost economic development of Zengcheng zone

State-level Guangzhou Zengcheng Economic and Technological Development Zone ushered in a dozen new projects on Tuesday. On the same day, the zone's new innovative industrial park - Dream Incubator of Overseas Chinese (DIOC)–was also officially launched.

The zone's administrative committee signed a number of contracts on the day, including those involving the construction of the China-Australia Scientific Innovation Park, China-Germany Industrial Innovation Center, China-UK Scientific Innovation Center and China-Israel Life Science Center.

The China-Australia park will focus on the industrialization of new breakthrough materials such as graphene. It aims to become a demonstration base for bilateral technological co-operation and exchanges, and the industrialization of R&D achievements.

The China-Germany center, along with Made in China 2025 and German Industry 4.0, aims to develop modern manufacturing industry via in-depth cooperation between the two countries' national strategies.

The China-UK center aims to become a platform for the bilateral integration of information and industrialization, while the China-Israel center will be primarily devoted to the development of life science industries.

The projects are expected to give a boost to the DIOC's newly launched incubation park.

The park was established under the approval of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council. It is a State-level innovative industrial base for overseas Chinese entrepreneurs and a base clustering top-notch foreign professionals or those Chinese who studied abroad.

The DIOC provides easy access to prospective settlers by offering one-stop services in project matching, agreement signing, business registration, training, human resources support, marketing and financing. It is hoped that the services will help newcomers set up their businesses.

Zhang Huoqing, director-general of the zone's administrative committee said that the park will inject new vitality into the development of the Zengcheng zone and Zengcheng district.

According to Zhang, DIOC will benefit not only from the local government's financial incentives but also from tailor-made preferential policies called the "Overseas Talents Plan".

The municipal government of Guangzhou established a special fund of one billion yuan ($154.25 million) to support technological innovation at the incubator. The "Overseas Talents Plan" will offer generous subsidies to both major projects for R&D purpose and top-level professionals for housing purpose, among other items.

The DIOC project is the fifth project to have been approved by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council. The other four are located in Tianjin municipality and the provinces of Hebei, Fujian and Jiangxi.

Dream Incubator of Overseas Chinese, which opens on Dec 22, aims to boost the development of Zengcheng Economic and Technological Development Zone. [Photo by Ling Yun/chinadaily.com.cn]