SZ ranks No. 1 in patent applications

04 23, 2020

Shenzhen ranked No. 1 in patent applications, patents granted, patents of inventions and international Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications in the year 2019, according to a white paper on the development of intellectual property in 2019 released by the city’s market supervision authority Tuesday. Simultaneously, the market supervision authority launched a weeklong event highlighting protection of intellectual property rights to mark the 20th World Intellectual Property Day that falls on Sunday. Shenzhen’s patent applications in China in 2019 reached 261,502, an increase of 14.4 percent over the number in 2018. Among them, the applications for patents of inventions increased by 18.4 percent to 82,852 and patents granted increased by 18.8 percent to 166,609. The number of applications for patents of inventions increased by 22.3 percent to 26,051. Huawei and Tencent ranked No. 1 and No. 5 in China with 4,510 and 2,146 patents granted. The number of patents for inventions had reached 138,534 by the end of 2019, an increase of 16.5 percent over the number reached at the end of 2018. For every 10,000 residents, there were 106.3 invention patents, eight times the national average, according to the city’s market supervision authority. The invention patent ownership for every 10,000 residents in Nanshan District was 396.9 on average, ranking it first in China. The city’s international PCT applications in 2019 stood at 17,459, taking first place among major Chinese cities for 16 straight years and taking up 30.6 percent of applications from China and 70.6 percent from Guangdong Province. The number of PCT applications by Huawei Technologies in 2019 reached 4,637, ranking it first among enterprises in the world. The trademark applications and registrations in Shenzhen also continued to increase in 2019, both ranking second among major Chinese cities, the authority said.

Enterprises to get subsidies for technical worker training

12 27, 2019

Shenzhen has introduced measures to implement a new enterprise apprenticeship system starting Dec. 20, according to the Shenzhen Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, Nanfang Daily reported. Under the new apprenticeship system, enterprises and technical colleges, vocational colleges and other educational and training institutions will jointly cultivate skilled talents through a work-study alternation program. The system aims to cultivate mid-level and senior technical workers who meet the needs of enterprises, as well as technicians who meet the urgent needs of the key industries in various districts and Dapeng New Area. The training period of mid-level and senior technical workers is one to two years, and that of technicians is one to three years. The human resources departments of all the districts and the new area can determine and publish their own annual training plan and the number of apprentices needed. Each enterprise shall apply for no more than 50 percent of the total number of new apprentices in the district or new area each year. According to the regulations, during the period of study and training, enterprises shall pay wages to trainees in accordance with the labor contract law. The wages shall not be lower than the minimum wage standard of the city. Meanwhile, enterprises should also provide the tutors with subsidies. The subsidies for apprentice training are classified into three categories, namely 5,500 yuan (US$785.82), 7,000 yuan and 8,500 yuan per person per year, which are based on vocational skill level. According to the number of apprentices passing the completion assessment and their vocational skill levels, enterprises can apply for apprentice training subsidies from the district’s human resources department. Enterprises can apply in advance for 20 percent of the subsidies within one month of the date when the district’s human resources department approves the registration of the apprentice training. The measures are valid for five years.

City rolls out high-tech incentives

12 20, 2019

Shenzhen's top economic planning agency unveiled the city’s industrial strategy and financial incentives for high-tech investment at the 2019 Shenzhen Global Investment Promotion Conference on Wednesday. Shenzhen will set aside 7 billion yuan (US$1 billion) each year to award innovative talents and fund affordable housing projects for talented people, Nie Xinping, director of the Shenzhen Municipal Development and Reform Commission, said at the conference. High-tech enterprises will also be eligible for 20 billion yuan in industrial development incentives each year. Generous incentives will be given to projects involving the integrated circuit (IC), biomedicine, 5G telecom and 8K ultra-high definition industries. The city government will provide fiscal support for IC development at up to 70 percent of the cost of tape-out, which is the final result of the design process for ICs or printed circuit boards before they are sent for manufacturing. A maximum of 30 million yuan will be handed out to any enterprise developing electronic design automation (EDA), which is a category of software tools for designing electronic systems such as ICs and printed circuit boards. The same ceiling of financial support will also be available for biomedicine or medical imaging and radiotherapy equipment manufacturers, Nie told the conference. A maximum of 100 million yuan in financial incentives a year is up for grabs for pharmaceutical companies who develop a new Category I drug. The city is building five biomedicine and innovative medicine industrial parks in Pingshan, Futian, Guangming, Longgang and Dapeng. Nie also promised support for the construction of 5G infrastructure and the development of core 5G technologies and applications. Telecom companies will receive a 10,000-yuan reward for each standalone 5G base station. A maximum of 150 million yuan in rewards are available for each telecom operator’s 5G development. The city aims to build 45,000 5G base stations by the end of August 2020 and become the first city in China to have citywide 5G coverage. Hefty incentives are also being dished out for the development of 8K ultra-high definition technologies and applications. A maximum of 10 million yuan is available for an 8K public service platform, while 15 million yuan will be given to any 8K industrial project. A higher incentive of up to 20 million yuan will be provided to research projects involving both national and local institutions. Nie also disclosed that the city will provide special support in a bid to form three major industrial clusters, namely new-type displays, artificial intelligence and intelligent manufacturing. As part of its efforts to accelerate its innovation-led development strategy, Shenzhen is striving to build national science centers, Nie said. The planned Guangming Science Town and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science Innovation Cooperation Zone will be home to national laboratories and basic research institutes. The business environment will be further improved to increase efficiency, lower cost and optimize services, Nie added.

Huawei wins deal to build German 5G network

12 16, 2019

　　Huawei Technologies Co. has won a bid from one of Germany’s biggest telecom companies to help build the country’s fifth-generation (5G) network. 　　Telefonica Deutschland, Telefonica SA’s German unit that operates Germany’s second-largest wireless network, picked Huawei and Finland’s Nokia Oyj to take an equal role supplying its 5G mobile phone network upgrade, the firm said Dec. 11. The deal is subject to the firms getting certified by German authorities, it said. 　　The announcement is a boon to Huawei after Deutsche Telekom AG said last week it has stopped ordering new 5G equipment because of political uncertainty over Chinese suppliers. 　　The German Government is currently drawing up security guidelines for the country’s 5G network expansion, in a move that’s expected to require certification of equipment. 　　Hawks in the intelligence community in Germany would like to tighten the rules in a way that would block Huawei. Chancellor Angela Merkel has said in the past she doesn’t want to bar the Chinese firm as long as it abides by certain security standards. It isn’t yet clear what requirements will ultimately be put in place, so it may be too early for Huawei to declare victory in Germany. 　　“We hope that this window of uncertainty will be as short as possible — we don’t yet have certification for any of our vendors,” Telefonica Deutschland CEO Markus Haas said. 　　Telefonica Deutschland is one of few European operators to have named Huawei as a 5G vendor, following first-mover Sunrise of Switzerland, whose Huawei-built 5G network went live earlier this year. 　　Germany’s other two mobile operators — Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone — are existing customers of Huawei but have yet to publicly confirm whether they will stick with Huawei networks leader for 5G.

Huawei aims to help build largest AI platform

12 02, 2019

Huawei aims to help build the world’s largest artificial intelligence (AI) computing platform by working with a major national laboratory, offering its self-developed chipsets as fundamental architecture to compete with Intel and NVIDIA. The Pengcheng laboratory, a government-owned lab in Shenzhen, released a new AI computing platform Friday called Cloud Brain II with the help of the Chinese tech giant’s recently launched Atlas 900, the world’s fastest AI training cluster. Huawei launched Atlas 900 in September to help make AI more readily available for scientific research and business innovation in various fields. The cluster is powered by the company’s self-developed chipsets Kunpeng and Ascend processors, competing with Intel’s dominant X86 architecture. “We hope to offer the world a new choice,” Hou Jinlong, president of Huawei’s Cloud and AI Products and Services, said at the launch ceremony Friday. The chipset, Kunpeng 920, which the Cloud Brain AI uses for computing, is expected to be faster than the X86 and have 30 percent lower energy consumption. Our generation has grown up using Intel and NVIDIA technologies, Hou said, expressing hope that the Chinese company’s self-developed chipsets will become the new fundamental architecture for AI computing worldwide. The Pengcheng lab works with hundreds of researchers from Chinese and foreign institutions in advanced scientific domains like quantum computing. It is also part of China’s first batch of innovative open platforms for developing AI technologies to be approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology. China hopes to become a driving force in AI innovation in the coming years, and a batch of individual cities are striving to build tech clusters for technological development by integrating policy support, talents and an innovation platform. Shenzhen is among the top cities that have established the Pengcheng lab to advance research in AI.

Hi-tech firms benefit from tax reduction

11 21, 2019

High-tech companies in Shenzhen have been the group that benefits the most from the city’s preferential tax policies for enterprises, the Shenzhen Economic Daily reported. According to statistics, 14,197 State-owned high-tech firms in Shenzhen have enjoyed preferential income tax policies for high-tech enterprises this year, with a total tax reduction of 13.6 billion yuan (US$1.93 billion) and a per capita tax reduction of 959,000 yuan. Meanwhile, 12,041 high-tech enterprises have enjoyed the additional deduction of R&D expenditure, with the amount of additional deductions reaching 99 billion yuan. At present, the high-tech industry has become the biggest pillar industry of Shenzhen’s economy. The total number of national high-tech enterprises in Shenzhen has reached 14,400, ranking second among large and medium-sized cities in China. In the first half of 2019, the output value of the high-tech industry stood at 1.13 trillion yuan, an increase of 11.26 percent over the same period last year. “The tax and fee cuts policies have accelerated the industrialization of scientific achievements when enterprises are in the stage of trial production,” said Li Peiyuan, product manager of Shenzhen Weigong Biotech Co. Ltd. Li said that although the company has been established for two years, it has become a first-class manufacturer of flow cytometry in China. “With the advent of the 5G era, whoever reacts quickly will have a place in the huge market,” said Wu Qian, financial director of Mobi Antenna Technology (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd. The company, specializing in smart 5G products, enjoyed an additional deduction of R&D expenses totaling 8.54 million yuan last year, according to Wu. Shenzhen Creality 3-D Technology Co. Ltd. is also a beneficiary of the tax and fee reduction policies. In 2018, the company gained 11 million yuan from an additional deduction of R&D expenses. “We use the funds on the research and development for our super intelligent 3-D printer,” said Liu Huilin, co-founder of Creality 3-D Technology. The 3-D printer, which can also be used for laser engraving and CNC engraving, is expected to become the company’s next best-selling product. According to Liu, the company’s sales revenue increased from 22.95 million yuan in 2017 to 153 million yuan in 2018.

Huawei’s 5G technology driven by innovation

10 23, 2019

Mobile communication technologies have become an indispensable part of society over the years. 5G technology will no doubt usher in a new era. According to the latest information disclosed at the 5th Huawei Asia-Pacific Innovation Day, Huawei has signed more than 50 commercial 5G contracts globally, delivering more than 200,000 stations by the end of August. The U.S. sanction on Huawei didn’t crash the company. Instead, Huawei has achieved faster development after a series of adjustments. What is the secret behind this? Peng Honghua, chief marketing officer for the Huawei Wireless Network, offered an answer to this question during his keynote speech titled, “Gather together, maintain innovation and commence the 5G decade.” In his speech, he pointed out that Huawei always adheres to the concept of “keeping complexity for itself and simplicity for customers,” and continues to innovate and cooperate with openness. Peng stressed that Huawei is committed to providing end-to-end 5G products and solutions, leading 5G business innovation, bringing the best 5G into reality together with operators, and creating greater social benefits and economic value. According to a report released by the Global Mobile Suppliers Association in August, 56 operators from 32 countries have announced a plan to apply 5G technology. Thirty-nine of them have declared they will launch 5G network services that comply with Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). At the same time, it is expected that more than 50 countries and regions around the world will issue a 5G spectrum. A total of 100 different types of 5G terminal devices have been unveiled around the globe. Peng said that 5G technology offers an amazing experience to consumers, which will further take mobile broadband to a new stage of prosperity. “More importantly, 5G can be a driving force for promoting digitalization, giving birth to more applications in different industries and improving industrial efficiency,” said Peng. Although South Korea is the first country in Asia to have successfully put 5G into commercial use, with over 2 million 5G users so far, China will be the biggest 5G market. Peng said that the three operators, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, had built 38,000 5G bases as of July. According to a plan, there will be 130,000 bases in China by the end of this year. Peng said that Huawei will make full use of its strength in 5G technology and combine its global experience in this regard to better serve operators and support China to lead the industry.

Huawei, Tencent, BYD top innovation list

10 10, 2019

Huawei, Tencent and BYD rank as the top three on a list of 70 enterprises in the city in terms of innovation, according to a report released by the Shenzhen Economic Daily. The ranking was compiled after a six-month selection by the organizing committee, including the Shenzhen Economic Daily, a magazine and a research institute. Huanxun, DJI, Mindray, Hytera, Goodix and SCC are four to 10 in the ranking. Shenzhen now has seven global Top 500 enterprises and more than 14,000 State-level high-tech enterprises. Statistics show that the production output of the city’s high-tech enterprises reached 2.38 trillion yuan (US$337 billion) and input in researches exceeded 100 billion yuan in 2018, accounting for 4.2 percent of the GDP. The latest statistics from the Shenzhen Science Innovation Commission show that the output of the city’s high-tech industry reached 1.13 trillion yuan in the first six months of the year, an increase of 11.26 percent year on year. The output in electronic information, biology and pharmacy, advanced manufacturing, new energy and new materials maintained growth rates in a range between 3.31 and 11.95 percent.

Huawei program helps train Latin American students

09 20, 2019

A total of 30 university students from Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica are in China for a training program offered by tech giant Huawei. The program, called “Seeds for the Future,” is aimed at spreading knowledge, increasing awareness of and interest in information and communication technology, and encouraging broad participation in digital communities, according to the company. The students have visited the company’s office in Beijing and its headquarters in Shenzhen during the two-week program, which will end Friday. It offers Latin American students a great opportunity to experience technological advances that China has made, said José Luis Bernal, Mexican ambassador to China. Jordan Madden, a Jamaican student at the University of the West Indies, said he was excited about the opportunity. “Since arriving in Beijing, I’ve been able to see so many technologies, which have given me a lot of ideas that I hope I can bring to Jamaica,” he said. “There are endless possibilities for ‘future seeds,’ and I hope everyone can learn from this program and contribute to the development of information technology in your countries,” said Zhang Ruijun, vice president of Huawei’s Latin American operations. By the end of 2018, more than 30,000 students from over 400 universities around the world have benefited from the program, including some 4,700 students invited to China for training.