CHENGDU, known as the City of Tianfu, or heavenly residence, is now trying to become a bastion of innovation.

From November 9 to 11, Chengdu hosted 2015 Chengdu Global Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fair and the 10th EU-China Business and Technology Cooperation Fair in the Chengdu New Expo Center.

Government officials, businessmen and investors from the US, France, Russia, Austria, Israel, India and China attended the fair.

Carmen Cano, deputy head of the Delegation of the European Union to China, said at the opening ceremony that China and EU have established strategic partnership, and there will be more cooperations in the future.

Many theme events were held in the fair, including EU-China Cluster Cooperation Internet+ & Industry 4.0 Entrepreneurship Program, Chengdu Consensus Roundtable Meeting on Global Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Global Summit on Entrepreneurial Universities, and Jingrong Cup: Global Innovation and Entrepreneurship Contest.

As the country’s first fair on global innovation and entrepreneurship, it has created a new wave of enthusiasm after the city’s Week of Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation which was held in October.

As the economy slows during a structural transformation, the government wants to sustain the creation of jobs through private businesses.

As a bellwether in China’s western and central areas, Chengdu is set to heed this call. Chengdu has made great achievements in advocating innovation and entrepreneurship.

There are more than 50 higher educational institutions and dozens of large-scale technology and innovation parks in the city. In the Chengdu High-Tech Zone, there were 3,710 high-tech companies by the end of last year, among which 560 had national-level high-tech certificates, accounting for one-fourth in Sichuan Province.

In April the Chengdu government issued the Tianfu Entrepreneurship Action Plan. It provided details on how to build a comprehensive framework to support entrepreneurship in the following 10 years.

The blueprint states that a team of 200,000 people — mainly young college students, researchers, returned graduates from overseas universities, and seasoned entrepreneurs — will be formed to build momentum for pushing innovation by 2020.

Of course, innovation just doesn’t happen because the government wants it to happen. A proper environment must be created for new businesses to thrive. Universities and research institutions are required. As such the government will help introduce the best and brightest from such institutions to companies that best understand market demand. Economic benefits produced from government-funded projects will be shared.

The Chengdu government will also offer competitive allowances and subsidies to attract senior scientists and professionals.

Also, Chengdu wants to build a progressive funding system to serve startups in different stages of growth. The action plan said such initiatives would turn the city into the largest and best location for startups in China’s western and central areas.

Within five years city officials expect to have more than 400 communities, parks and zones exceeding 15 million square meters to help nurture new businesses.

Chengdu is accelerating the construction of innovative incubators, and putting high priority on developing low-cost and convenient hackerspaces, which are community-operated physical places where people share their interest in tinkering with technology, meet and work on their projects, and learn from each other.

Places like Startup Park, Game Park, Perfect Cafe and In Teahouse are already creating a comfortable environment for the birth of great ideas at a relatively low cost. They complement existing incubators like Tianfu Software Park, Tianfu Life Science Park, Internet Mansion, Qingyang E-Commerce Industry Park and Chongzhou Big Data Industry Park. There are also plans to convert idle factories and lands into space for more incubators.

Meanwhile, Chengdu plans to attract at least 100 angel funds and venture capital valued at 200 billion yuan (US$31.7 billion) to help companies grow from startups to publicly listed firms. The efforts aim to make innovation more sustainable.

There will also be as many as 1,000 support institutions and 2,000 professional tutors offering services for start-ups.

Ambitious goal

By 2020, Chengdu is expected to see more than 100,000 technological and innovative companies. Among them, 2,000 should be involved in high technology and create industrial output of 2 trillion yuan. Companies listed on the over-the-counter stock board should reach 300, and annual invention patent applications should reach 50,000, with patent ownership exceeding two per 1,000 people.

To make it, several new high-tech parks will focus on different industries like automobile, transport, aerospace, clean energy and environmentally friendly materials.

Meanwhile, Chengdu will collaborate more frequently with model areas of innovation like Zhongguancun in Beijing, Zhangjiang in Shanghai and Shenzhen in Guangdong Province to learn best practices. Meanwhile, Chengdu will also take a leading role in working with cities in China’s western and central areas. Together, they can optimize the distribution of various resources for mass entrepreneurship and innovation and coordinate development in the region.

Chengdu also plans to host a series of influential workshops, competitions, as well as regular forums and exhibitions to help people with ideas connect.

“In one decade, Chengdu will become a dreamland for entrepreneurs and innovators,” said the action plan. “As a leading power in the national campaign of encouraging mass entrepreneurship and innovation, Chengdu will be a highland where resources gather and its welcoming environment for startups will set the standards for elsewhere.”

The city has made a solid start.

In the first three quarters of this year, Chengdu witnessed the establishment of 8,353 new high-tech companies, equal to the birth of nearly 1,000 innovative firms each month in the city.

During the January to August period, the output of Chengdu’s high-tech industries expanded 8 percent year on year to 495.3 billion yuan, and the number of submitted patent applications surged nearly 30 percent to 39,931 units. With the operation of 37 new incubators for high-tech firms, Chengdu also had an additional 1.52 million square meter space for innovation and entrepreneurship.