Software spurs Dalian's economy
( 2002-08-02 09:50 ) (1 )

The software industry made great progress in the first half of 2002 in Dalian, in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, according to the municipal government.

Dai Yulin, vice-mayor of Dalian, said the software industry boosted the city's entire economy and played a leading role in high-tech industry development.

According to official statistics, from January to June, the city saw 1 billion yuan (US$122 million) in sales revenues from software products, with US$13 million in exports.

The output value of high-tech products reached 30 billion yuan (US$366 million), a 25 per cent increase over figures for the same period last year.

Dalian is one of the cities included in one-year national key programme pushing the internationalization of the software industry.

Dalian Software Park, one of China's "torch" software technology parks, with its preferential policies, abundant supply of trained personnel, multiple capital sources and active market, provides software enterprises with a good development environment.

"Torch" is a State-level project designed to promote the development of science and technology in every province in the country.

There are 110 enterprises registered in the park and more than 3,000 software technicians and specialists are working there.

Dalian National High-tech Industrial Development Zone has attracted 149 foreign and domestic enterprises and US$68 million in foreign and US$188 million in domestic capital.

The overall revenue from technology, industry and trade in the zone reached US$125 million for the first half of the year, a 20 per cent rise year-on-year.

The government plans to set up systematic education and training facilities in the park.

The eight surrounding colleges and universities including Dalian University of Technology, Northeast university of Finance & Economics, Dalian Oriental Institute of Information Technology and the Dalian Software Institute, offer multilevel, practical, and open training opportunities for people in the industry.

Qu Xiaofei, director of the Dalian Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, pointed out that there are more than 10,000 software personnel in Dalian and that the city plans to train 10,000 software experts over the next five years.