From "Laggard" to "Leader," Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone Navigates Blue Ocean Opportunity Using Big Data

Located in the southwestern region of China, Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone sees no built-in advantages compared with the eastern region of China. Since 2004, however, with the success of the big data industry in Guiyang, the zone has seized opportunities and taken a big data-driven approach to launch a range of policy dividends. Additionally, it has introduced a group of excellent big data enterprises thanks to its high-quality business environment, while having fostered a legion of big data makers who have taken roots and grown there and now become the leaders in the industry today. At the same time, the Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone is fully giving a big boost to the integration of big data with the industry, service industries, government services and other business formats, where traditional enterprises are accelerating their transformation and upgrading and developing at a fast pace. By breaking away from the traditional "path dependence" approach, the zone has blazed a new trail of characteristic industrial development.

Guiyang Big Data Maker Park (Guiyang Daily)

As one of the earliest regions to develop big data, the Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone has now housed more than 30 national-level pilot zones or institutions, including the National Big Data (Guizhou) Comprehensive Pilot Zone, the National Big Data Technology Innovation Pilot Zone, the National Big Data Engineering Key Laboratory, and the National Big Data Incubator, making it a big data industry development cluster and one of the "1+8" open innovation platforms in Guizhou Province. Intel, Dell, IBM, Baidu, Huawei Cloud, Alibaba and other leading global big data companies have settled in the zone.

"In the past, what we did largely was investment attraction when it comes to our opening up to the outside world; nowadays, an increasing number of local enterprises have gone abroad with their internationally leading technology, frequently exchanging and cooperating with Japan, Sweden, South Korea, Germany, Switzerland and other countries. In the countries along the 'Belt and Road,' the enterprises from the Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone have created the 'made-in-Guiyang' windmill, the largest monomer photovoltaic power generation project in Asia Pacific, the world's leading big data flood warning system and more," said Liu Jun, member of the Party Working Committee of Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone and Deputy Director of the Management Committee of Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone.

The industry can't go nowhere without talented personnel. The Big Data Expo Avenue under construction is not only a gathering place for big data, artificial intelligence and 5G industries, but also home to high-level talents. "None of the few partners including me who returned from overseas for the purpose of entrepreneurship is native Guiyangese. The reason why we chose Guiyang as the base camp is that the efficiency and development speed of this city is amazing!" said Wang Kang, Head of Golden Stand which was named one of the "2019 Top 10 Companies with Financial Technology Competitiveness in China." As with a plethora of people who have changed from "Beijing drifters" to "Guiyang drifters," Wang Kang has now been a "Guiyang settler" after his venture success in the Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone. As Guiyang becomes a place of "net brain gain," Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone has also become a treasured land to bring together high-level talents and for innovation and entrepreneurship.

"The Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone traditionally covered an area of 1.31 square kilometers only, with almost no industries or buildings. As for the introduction of industries, the eastern region of China was mainly referred to. But now, the zone has become a new growth pole for Guizhou's economic development and a new pacesetter for technological innovation in southwest China," said Liu Jun. Over the years, the Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone has grown from a "laggard" into a "leader", which has drawn a big data blueprint on a blank sheet of paper.

Exhibition Center of National Big Data (Guizhou) Comprehensive Pilot Zone (Guiyang Daily/Shi Zhaochang)

Other than new business formats, the Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone also promotes the transformation and upgrading of traditional enterprises through the strategy of big data integration.

Production base of Guizhou Jialai Zhongke Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. located in the Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone (Guiyang Daily)

In the Exhibition Center of National Big Data (Guizhou) Comprehensive Pilot Zone located in the Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone, there are visitors in an endless stream every day. Autonomous driving, 5G holographic projection, FAST, robots talking and dancing with people, classic case of big data plus poverty alleviation, the appearance of the future Big Data Expo Avenues and more - all this which represents the development history and achievements of the big data industry in Guiyang is shown in the center.

Opportunities belong to those who have the courage to bring forth new ideas and never get conceited. The Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone is still forging ahead. Since the beginning of this year, the zone has been making increased efforts to fuel the construction of the Big Data Expo Avenue, and accelerate the construction of the core area of National Big Data (Guizhou) Comprehensive Pilot Zone and the National Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone, striving to create a core area of "China's Big Data Valley." By putting big data and artificial intelligence at the core, it continues to lead the innovation of big data technology. Centering on the six key sectors of big data, artificial intelligence, 5G applications (Intelligent Connected City), blockchain, quantum information and life sciences, it also continues to speed up the agglomeration of the big data industry, advance the further integration of big data and various industries, and rev up the transformation and upgrading of a number of traditional manufacturing segments.

Up to now, the Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone has cooperated with world-renowned universities such as Imperial College London in the UK and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore in technological transfer, in addition to the introduction of 51 overseas experts. It is carrying out publicity and promotion, international exchanges, innovation incubation, investment attraction and talent introduction, corporate services and other work in the Guiyang High-tech Offshore Innovation Centers that have been established in Silicon Valley, Moscow, Tel Aviv, and Sydney. Focusing on the cultivation of "medium and high-end consumer goods" and "medium and high-end manufacturing," the Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone will harness the China International Import Expo platform to expand imports, and facilitate the implementation of industrial projects through trade cooperation. At the same time, it will also fully play the role of the offshore innovation centers in achievements transformation, transfer of technology, innovation cultivation and others, implement the strategy of "local incubation and cultivation + industrialization of the high-tech zone,", and introduce small and medium-sized innovative enterprises.

Along with "bringing in", batches of high-tech enterprises are accelerating "going global." For example, The hand forgings such as aero-engines and gas turbines produced by Guizhou Aviation Technology Development Co., Ltd. are sold to foreign countries; the reverse osmosis membranes produced by Vontron are exported to India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Russia and other countries; Safran Aircraft Engine (Guiyang) Co., Ltd. sells its products to the world, and among others.

In 2018, the import and export volume of the Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone reached US$224 million, accounting for 6.4% of the city's total, or up 77.5% year-on-year.

Citizens experience high technology in the 5G Application Innovation Joint Lab located in the Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone (Guiyang Daily)

As the first national high-tech industrial development zone and the only special talent zone in Guizhou, the Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone only welcomed 20-plus companies for incubation in 1992, but today, 27 years later, there have been more than 1,700 incubating enterprises in the zone, including a large number of technology companies like Longmaster Information, East Century, Huitong Huacheng, Shijihengtong, and Lichuang.

Thanks to big data, there have been more than 7,000 additional enterprises settling in the Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone since 2014, exceeding the total number of registered companies in the past 21 years. Longmaster Information has been named by Forbes as one of the "Top 100 Listed Companies with the Highest Potential in China" for two consecutive years. From 2010 to 2014, it was recognized as a "Key Software Enterprise within the National Planning Layout" for five years in a row, the only software company made into the listing from Guizhou Province.

To hasten the gathering of talented personnel, in the Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone, the College Student Pioneer Park and the Returning Talents Pioneer Park has been established; the first administrative examination and approval bureau in Guiyang has been set up, where 39 administrative licensing items can be examined and approved in a centralized manner so as to ensure "one seal for all approvals"; Guizhou's first government affairs self-service hall has been opened, where the masses can not only purchase invoices, but also print business licenses by themselves, and self-declare 186 government service matters online, realizing government services available for 24 hours, just to name a few.

The Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone provides all-round assistance to enterprises or related institutions in terms of financial support, location provision, talent introduction, achievements transformation, platform construction and others, striving to provide enterprises with an innovative entrepreneurial environment that features "optimal policies, lowest cost, best environment, fastest service, and best humanist services." As of now, the zone has gathered more than 70,000 talents of various types, including 2,680 high-level innovative and entrepreneurial talents, set up 13 academician workstations along with 16 academicians, cultivated and introduced 13 experts in the "Thousand Talents Program," and organized and hired 36 declaration and entrepreneurial mentors.

Today, there are more and more "Guiyang drifters", "Guiyang settlers", "Guiyang entrepreneurs" and "Guiyang residents" in Guiyang and the Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone has gradually become a gathering place for high-end talents.