Wei Binglin never thought about starting a company in Beijing, but a regional integration plan for the capital inspired him to try his luck as an entrepreneur outside the city.
Seizing the opportunities of Beijing's expansion and integration with neighboring Hebei Province and Tianjin Municipality, Wei resigned from his job at an advertising company in Beijing and started his own business in Qinhuangdao City, Hebei, about a three-hour drive to the east.
According to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integration plan, adopted last year, many organizations and businesses will be moved from the capital city to neighboring areas.
"In the next five years, several universities and schools will be moved from Beijing to Qinhuangdao, and for me, it means business," said Wei, who is in his early 30s. Wei's Qinhuangdao Tianchen Technology Company makes digital lab equipment for schools.
"I have secured one million yuan in contracts in the last two months. It is a good start," he said. As Beijing proceeds with the integration plan, a growing number of technology companies have seized the opportunity to expand and change.
Zhongguancun Science Park, often called "China's Silicon Valley," has set up two affiliated business parks in Qinhuangdao and Baoding City in Hebei Province. "The integration plan has offered incentives and opportunities for high-tech companies to expand into markets in other cities," said Meng Han, deputy director of Zhongguancun Haidian Park Management Committee.
EXPANSION FROM THE CITY
Bao Dunfu, 50, is a Beijing resident, but he moved his LED factory to Baoding during the relocation wave that started last year. Operation costs and salaries are only 30 percent of the costs in Beijing.
"For me, Baoding is sufficiently close to the market, while greatly reducing costs," he said. In addition to Bao's factory, another 14 companies have moved to the Baoding Zhongguancun Innovation Center, and more are expected to follow suit. "The competition in Beijing is stifling, and it is hard to make profits now.
It is time to turn to markets in smaller cities," said Liu Zuosheng, general manager of Qinhuangdao MingSoft company, which produces web camera equipment. Its parent company is based in Beijing.
"It is unlikely that big firms like Baidu will move out of Beijing, but small and medium-sized firms have been given great opportunities to go out and grow thanks to low costs and favorable policies," said Guan Yaoqu, manger of a tech industry start-up incubator in Qinhuangdao.
CALL FOR SERVICES
"Compared with last year, more tech firms have been planning and rearranging their operations on the new checkerboard of resources in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region," said Zhang Ling, an official with the merchant bureau of Tianjin's Nankai District.
"Though most of the firms that have exited Beijing are not the big fish, they have spread the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship from Beijing," he said.
Zhao Xiuchi, professor of urban economy at Capital University of Economics and Business, called for financial resources to be diverted from Beijing to Tianjin and Hebei.
"Many entrepreneurs said they still have to return to Beijing to look for investment, although they have launched projects in Hebei and Tianjin," she said.
"As the center of national financial decision-making and management, Beijing brings together a lot of financial organizations and funds, but the blood needs to flow to neighboring cities to support these companies," she said.
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