Shanghai Daily News

A ground-breaking ceremony was held for Siemens AG's new East China headquarters in the city's Yangpu District over the weekend.

The German industrial giant will invest 710 million yuan (US$89 million) to set up the headquarters, which should be completed by the end of 2008.

"Yangpu District is a really exciting place because it is the center for education and innovation," said Klaus Kleinfeld, president and chief executive officer of Siemens, yesterday on the sidelines of the advisory conference in Shanghai.

"The leadership (of Shanghai) is on the right direction - attracting the financial community, attracting creative potential, attracting R&D people - that's the name of the game," Kleinfeld said.

Europe's biggest engineering company plans to invest a further 800 million yuan in China over the next three years, with most of the money earmarked for research and development projects, he added.

The company opened a new research and development center in Beijing last week, one of its two biggest R&D centers outside Germany.

The company is already well positioned in China in terms of manufacturing, Kleinfeld said.