The central business district in Chaoyang is home to many landmark buildings in Beijing. [Photo/China Daily]

Capital has attracted a large number of companies, leading to new innovation

Beijing is striving to lead China's opening-up and high-quality development based on its "two zones" policies, local officials said.

That includes building a comprehensive demonstration zone for the expansion of the national service industry and a free trade pilot zone featuring technological innovation, an open service industry and digital economy.

As the only city in the country that has superimposed the "two zones" policies, Beijing is focused on boosting the dual circulation economic development pattern.

The zone for expanding the opening up of the national service industry spans the entire city, and the free trade zone covers three areas of technological innovation, international business services, and high-end industries, with a total area of 119.68 square kilometers.

A large number of companies have settled in relevant areas, focusing on the fields of new-generation information technology, new energy smart cars, biotechnology and health, robotics and smart manufacturing.

Liu Meiying, deputy director of the office of the leading group for the "two zones" work in Beijing, said the city's 16 districts and the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area, as well as nine departments in science and technology, business, finance, education, information, medical and health, have formulated work plans for advancing the construction of the "two zones".

Yan Ligang, director of the Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau, said the core task is innovation and the construction of "two zones" is a combination of park economy and industrial development in an open market.

In the past few months, the city has formed 30 national firsts, or at least was part of the first group of breakthrough policies and projects. Among projects covered were income tax incentives on technology transfer as well as equity transfer of venture capital enterprises. Other fiscal and tax policies were also included.

Xie Runxing, chairman and president of Beijing Zehua Chemical Engineering, a Sino-foreign joint venture whose main business is to provide chemical separation technology for customers in the petrochemical field, is very excited about the city's recently implemented tax policy on technology transfer.

"The income tax exemption for technology transfer has been increased from 5 million yuan to 20 million yuan," Xie said.

"We can save 2 to 3 million yuan in taxes each year, and we can invest more funds in technology research and development."

For small and medium-sized science and technology enterprises like Zehua, the policy stacking advantages brought by the construction of the "two zones" do not stop there.

"The implementation of intellectual property pledge financing can also reduce the financing costs for enterprises," Xie said.

With the support of the national financial management department, Beijing has stepped up its pioneering efforts in the financial field.

The construction of Beijing's "two zones" involves 102 tasks in the financial sector. So far, 43 items have been implemented.

"To attract more foreign-funded financial institutions to settle in Beijing, we have established a working mechanism for foreign-funded financial institutions' 'service stewards' to provide one-to-one dedicated services," said Li Yan, deputy director of Beijing Local Financial Supervision and Administration.

"That includes policy consultation, administrative approval, and supporting services."

A number of industry-leading enterprises and demonstration projects have settled in Beijing, including the Cross-border Financial Information Services, a major financial infrastructure that carries the function of cross-border financial information transmission and the country's first international research hospital in the Zhongguancun Life Science Park in Changping district.

On Dec 28, 2020, China's second market-oriented personal credit reporting company, Pudao Credit Information, was registered and established in the International Business Service Area of the Beijing Pilot Free Trade Zone in the city's Chaoyang district.

"Credit is the cornerstone of the market economy and financial infrastructure," said Zhao Yihan, chairman of the company.