China-Beijing International High Tech Industries Week Attracts $7.4 Billion, Boosts 2008 Olympic Bid
Summary
The fourth annual China-Beijing International High Tech Industries Week attracted over $7.4 billion in new investment pledges, drawing 1,300 attendees from 70 overseas entities. Plans for the 2008 Beijing Olympics include a digital cable TV network capable of HDTV transmission at all Olympic venues.
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Rapid IT Development in China Adds High-Tech Momentum to Beijing's Olympic Bid According to The Organizing Committee of The China-Beijing International High Tech Industries Week
"China Beijing International High Tech Industries Week'' Adds US$7.4 Billion to China's Fastest Growing Sector BEIJING--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 29, 2001-- The fourth annual China-Beijing International High Tech Industries Week (CBHT Week, May 10-15) has attracted a record US$7.4 billion-plus in new investment pledges, further prompting China's fastest growing sector and showcasing the rapid changes underway in China's capital city as it prepares to host the 2008 Olympics Games. The conference--aimed at developing multi-lateral economic and technological cooperation--brought together 1,300 attendees from over nearly 70 overseas business and government entities and leaders from China's fledgling high-tech sector to Beijing. The success of China Beijing International High Tech Industries and the growing momentum in Beijing's technology markets is set to speed up the city's overall exposure, access to new economy technologies and emergence as a major regional business center. China's bid to host the Olympics and their impending entry into the World Trade Organization are seen as the two main catalysts for their recent economic and technological surges. "The China Beijing International High Tech Industries Week convention reflects the level and speed of technological advancement in China,'' said Liu Jingmin, Vice Mayor of Beijing and Executive Vice President of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Bid Committee. "Beijing'sOlympics Bid is clearly strengthened by these developments--we plan the most high-tech Olympics ever, enhancing the Olympic experience by uniting the world through sport via the most leading-edge information technologies.'' The China Beijing International Hi-tech Industries Week convention enticed some of the world's premier high-tech multinational corporations to Beijing, including Nokia, General Electric, and NEC. Foreign government delegations, venture capitalists and the largest domestic hi-tech companies in China also participated. The exhibition occupied a total area of 100,000 square meters, 10 times larger than the first fair held in 1998. Some of the key investments generated at CBHT included $1.2 billion for the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (BDA), the capital's first economic development zone, and $816 million in investment from forty agreements with both domestic and foreign partners for the Zhongguancun Science & Technology Park, dubbed China's ``Silicon Valley "This fair is boosting the city's high-tech industrialization,'' said Mr Yao Wang, Executive Vice Secretary General of the Organizing Committee of CBHT. ``It will help commercialize high-tech innovations developed in Beijing, and get our high-tech industries involved in the process of economic globalization.'' A special section of the High Tech week exhibition showcases innovative new technology applications for a Beijing 2008 Olympics. Some of the Olympic-specific advances planned for the city include: * Utilization of solar energy in public areas and clean gas in public transport. To date, some 30,000 public buses and taxis are pollution-free * Application of intelligent transport systems to aide in navigation around potentially difficult traffic conditions as well as a mini-satellite used for surveillance of ground conditions with the capability of translating pictures into virtual reality images. * Addition to Beijing's current one million km of optical fiber and one of the largest SDH metropolitan networks in the world by expanding fiber optics to cover all Olympic sites, providing a secure broadband network to deliver the Games to the world. Fixed line telephone and data transmission infrastructure will provide all of the necessary capacity for IN and IP based customer services. * Establishment of a digital cable TV network capable of HDTV transmission for all Olympic venues * Development of a dedicated digital Olympic trunk radio system to provide capacity for 15,000 handsets in 1,000 talk groups. The system will be independent of the public trunk radio system, guaranteeing access at all times. * Installation of GPS technology to cover all Olympic transport routes to be used both for the Olympics and public transport. * Enhancement of televised transmission of the Games both internationally and domestically, by the addition of new submarine optical cables to the six already in operation, five satellites, and transportable transmitting satellite earth stations. |
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