Shanghai Daily news

District is set to spend 200 million yuan a year to promote its high-tech industry.
The minhang District government has announced that it will spend at least 200 million yuan (US$24.69 million) annually to support the development of scientific education and industry. The spending is prompted by an effort to increase the quality of scientific research and development in Minhang District over the next five years.
The strategy, which will run till 2010, aims at promoting the aerospace sector to the point where it can become the major industry of the district. Photoelectron and micro-electronics industries are also set to become key trades in the area.
To assist these efforts, the district has begun construction of the science focused Shanghai Zizhu Industrial Park. The Minhang District government hopes that the park will promote a collaborative working environment for corporate enterprises and universities.
In additional support of high-tech industry and scientific education, the district government has set up a 30-million-yuan fund to financially assist scientific innovation and another 30-million-yuan foundation to guarantee bank loans for small, high-tech enterprises.
However, the district government is taking on larger obligations than simply funding scientific development. A Shanghai Aerospace New Area has recently been laid over an area of 89 hectares. In this new area, there are plans to establish an aerospace technology center and a solar energy research center.
"We will try to guide enterprises in transferring their aerospace and military technology to other industries for civilian use, this should have huge market potential," said Zhang Wenyue, deputy governor of the district. "We hope to form an aerospace industry chain with a yearly output value of more than 100 billion yuan."
Minhang district is also home of a number of other successful industrial zones, including Xinzhuang Industrial Park and Pujiang High-tech Park of the Caohejing Development Zone.
Currently, nearly 300 projects have been established in the area and there are more than 3,000 scientific enterprises in the district. Last year these enterprises had an output value of more than 40 billion yuan.
There are also a number of impressive achievements being made by companies in the district. For example, SVA, a local state-owned electronic enterprise, is cooperating with NEC now to try to produce the fifth generation of liquid crystal screens in Xinzhuang. If the experiment succeeds, the annual output value is expected to reach at least 100 billion yuan, Zhang said. Also, Inventec (Shanghai) Corp, a producer of computer parts, is expected to achieve an export value of US$4 billion this year.
Additionally, Jiao Tong University and East China Normal University both set up campuses in the district.
"In this way, universities can cooperate with enterprises to turn more scientific research results into products and can also provide more talented people to the enterprises," Zhang said.
The district government will appropriate 100 million yuan to help the two universities develop every year.
In an appraisal made by a Taiwan trade association, Minhang District took first place among highly recommended cities and districts on the Chinese mainland as the district most highly recommended to investors.