CHANGZHOU, China, June 25 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Changzhou National Hi-Tech District announced today that on June 24 it was promoted to be one of the first international service outsourcing base cities at the provincial level in Jiangsu. The two special parks in Changzhou National High-Tech District, namely Changzhou Software Park and the Changzhou National Animation Base, have become the important carriers of the industry, and the district was selected as one of the top five "International Service Outsourcing Demonstration Zones in Jiangsu." Six enterprises in the district, including OKI Software Technology Co., Ltd. and Changzhou CIC-Futong Technologies Co., Ltd., were recognized as the first "Key Enterprises Undertaking International Service Outsourcing in Jiangsu Province."
By the end of 2006, 86 software enterprises and 253 software products passed the qualifications at the provincial level. Software animation and related industries have realized a sales income of RMB 8 billion and nearly USD 10 million in exports. The service outsourcing industry of the Changzhou National High-Tech District has been moving along in the fast lane.
The Changzhou municipal government have attached great importance to speeding up service outsourcing. Service outsourcing has been considered as a new measure to change the mode of urban economic growth, optimize exports and trade structures as well as improve the level of the use of foreign funds. Fan Yanqing, secretary of the municipal party committee, wrote instructions on selecting the right breakthrough, striving to promote development. The municipal government also has issued policies encouraging the development of international service outsourcing, including establishing special funds to reward enterprises that situate themselves in the park, build public technology testing platforms and pass international standard certifications. They also offer allowances on rental and property management fees and reward construction of environment-friendly facilities. At present, the government has studied an issuance of a new round of policies to offer higher rewards and carry out special policies on talent introduction and enterprise expansion, so as to encourage and support these enterprises in growing stronger.
The Changzhou National Software Park became a national software industry base in 2004. 100,000 sq.m of premises for software development has been developed for the first stage of the software park. At present, only 63 software enterprises and 196 software products have passed the qualifications above the provincial level. There are over 160 domestic and foreign software enterprises, including OKI from Japan, Wicresoft, MPRC and NandaSoft, and 5000 employees in the park. The park boasts 8 software patents, 151 items of registration of copyright, 33 national technology projects including 863 national projects and national torch plans. In 2006, the park gained RMB 40.8 million of project funding. Software enterprises have co-established the software export union to explore the international service outsourcing market together. At present, the second stage (Tomorrow Technology New Town, covering an area of 300,000 sq.m) of the Changzhou Software Park is under construction.
Changzhou National Animation Base is the only base at the municipal level among the first nine national bases. To support and promote the development of the animation industry, the Changzhou municipal government issued the Provisions on Encouraging and Supporting Development of the Animation Industry. The Provision states that original animation works that broadcast on TV stations above the provincial level will be compensated for cost, and awarded works will be rewarded, and that those enterprises residing in the base will enjoy a three-year reduction and exemption on rental of premises for development, production and office purposes, and that the income reserved for local finance that comes from enterprises' total tax revenue will be rewarded to enterprises in three years. At present, the city has spent over RMB 16 million in supporting ten animation projects. There are already 58 animation enterprises though the base that have only been set up for 2 years, and the number of land in enterprises ranks the top in the country. The animation industry has become a shining name card that makes the city famous across the province and the country. In the appraisal of the "National Top Ten Innovative Bases with the Optimal Investment Value" in 2006, the base ranked the third. At present, 80,000 sq.m of premises for R&D and creation has been built and annual production capacity of about 10,000 minutes is available. In 2006, 71 animation theme projects were approved to be established, and 12 animation movies totaling 5652 minutes were completed. A number of animation works produced by Changzhou have been shown on TV screens at home and abroad. Young audiences have been deeply impressed by the animation images. After the second stage of the Film Animation Industry Base that covers an area of 2 square kilometers is built, a complete animation industry chain will be formed.
Animation outsourcing is the major operation mode of the animation industry in Changzhou. Under such a production mode, Chinese animation enterprises work in collaboration with foreign animation companies who develop the initial ideas, based on which Chinese enterprises perform hand drawings, computer paintings and synthesis, etc. The Asian Animation Round initiated by domestic and foreign enterprises, including Gangwon Information & Multimedia Corporation from Korea, Hawaii Movie Cooperation Co. from America, Shanghai Baitu Culture Communication Co., Ltd. and Changzhou Carloon Animation Co., Ltd., has offered an international exchange platform for the Changzhou animation base.
"Promote the technology upgrade and industry optimization in the city to form new industry strengths by taking advantage of the fast development of international service outsourcing," said Wang Weicheng, mayor of the Changzhou government. The government has developed the general goal for development of the service outsourcing industry. According to the goal, the service outsourcing industry in Changzhou will enter the top 20 in terms of scale by 2010, with the total output value reaching RMB 25 billion. Among them, the international service outsourcing business will exceed USD 100 million, and 30 enterprises will enter the top 1000 in the national service outsourcing, which will facilitate the formation of industry concentration and scale effect initially. By 2015, the total output value of service outsourcing will exceed RMB 80 billion, with over USD 500 million for the international service outsourcing business, so as to form a complete service outsourcing system and related industry chain and make it a supporting industry of the city.
