The 2021 Zhongguancun Index, a yearly study on the strength of business and innovation at the namesake science park in West Beijing, was released on Dec 29.

It was the 10th time that the index was issued.

Due to its objectivity and comprehensiveness, the index is known as the barometer for the development of China's high-tech zones and industries. 

The report includes five first-level indicators, 11 second-level indicators, and 35 third-level indicators, including innovation leadership, innovation and entrepreneurship ecology, high-quality development, openness and coordination, and livability. 

Based on the 2013 index, these figures portray new dynamics, features and trends of Zhongguancun's innovative development.

Zhongguancun Index and five first-level indices [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

According to the report, the Zhongguancun Science Park has maintained its high-quality development.

The 2020 Zhongguancun Index reached 251.3 in 2020, an increase of 28.9 from the previous year.

Among the five first-level indices, the openness and coordination index has the fastest growth, up 52.2 from the previous year, reaching 230.9; The innovation leadership index continued to rise, up 43.6 from the previous year, reaching 301.6.

The high-quality development index increased rapidly, up 32.8 over last year; The innovation and entrepreneurship index increased by 13.0 compared with the previous year, reaching 388.9; the livability index increased steadily, amounting to 122.1.

All the above shows that since 2020, the science park has withstood the pandemic, moving forward steadily, and demonstrating good resilience in economic operations, which are manifested in five aspects:

The originality and leading innovation turns prominent

Zhongguancun Innovation Leadership Index [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The ability to supply basic research from the source has been enhanced, the status of corporate innovation as the mainstay continues to be highlighted, and a batch of breakthrough original innovations and core technologies continue to emerge.

Cutting-edge industrial clusters continue to grow

Zhongguancun High-Quality Development Index [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

High-tech industrial clusters continue to grow, the digital economy has become a new engine for high-quality development, and an innovative enterprise matrix has come into being.

The ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship upgrades, and hard technology entrepreneurship is rejuvenated

Zhongguancun Innovation and Entrepreneurship Index [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Entrepreneurship activities remain highly active, the trend of standardization, normalization and informationization of innovation and entrepreneurship has become more obvious, and the ability to transform achievements and incubate continues to grow.

The ability to allocate global resources increases

Zhongguancun Openness and Coordination Index [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The attractiveness of global high-end resources continues to increase, companies' international expansion capabilities and competitiveness have improved, and the ability of cross-regional innovation and collaboration has been strengthened.

The livable and business environment optimized

Zhongguancun Livability and Employment Index [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The business environment continued to be optimized, and the comprehensive quality of the park has been improved.

The 2021 index was formulated and released by Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, Zhongguancun Innovation and Development Institute and Fangdi Think Tank.