Shenzhen ranks top in urban capital vitality

 Shenzhen tops the comprehensive urban capital vitality ranking for all cities in China, according to the 2019 China Urban Capital Vitality Index Report published Friday.

The report, compiled by Antai College of Economics & Management and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, is issued every two years.

In the ranking, the top 10 are Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Suzhou, Beijing, Guangzhou, Wuxi, Wuhan, Nanjing and Ningbo.

The urban capital vitality index consists of three sub-indexes and five indicators. The subindexes include scale index, efficiency index and structure index.

Scale index consists of two indicators, namely, the number of listed companies and the market value of listed companies; efficiency index comprises the per capita number of listed companies and the per capita market value of listed companies; and structure index measures the industrial emerging degree of listed companies.

Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing have retained distinct advantages in capital vitality with larger capital scale and higher capital efficiency. However, compared with Shanghai and Beijing, Shenzhen has gained the upper hand in terms of the degree of emerging industries, as per the report.

According to the report, the capital scale of the top 20 Chinese cities in economic aggregate has been expanding, and the capital efficiency of these cities has also been significantly improved.

As of 2018, the number of listed companies per million people in the top 20 Chinese cities in economic aggregate had reached 14, and the per capita market value of listed companies had reached 252,000 yuan (US$36,000), far higher than the national average.

The report points out that the overall capital vitality of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is fairly good, but there is still a significant gap between the region and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Yangtze River Delta region.

Meanwhile, the capital vitality of the Yangtze River Delta region has been developing steadily, but is subject to a certain pressure of growth and competition.

From the perspective of economic development of the three regions, the report highlights that mutual cooperation and complementary advantages between cities have greatly expanded space for regional development and opened up new possibilities for cities to improve their competitiveness.

The report also points out that the coordination of regional development needs to be further enhanced.

2,000 foreign-funded firms set up in city in H1

 Nearly 2,000 foreign-invested companies were set up in Shenzhen in the first half of the year, attracting approximately US$8 billion of contractual foreign investment, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported Saturday.

The actual use of foreign capital exceeded US$4 billion from January to June this year in the city, an increase of 5 percent year on year.

Optimistic about the vitality of sci-tech innovation and the advantages of industrial chain agglomeration, ABB Group, a Swiss-Swedish multinational corporation, opened an innovation center in Shenzhen at the end of last year.

The center focuses on the development of core areas including artificial intelligence, cloud services, cybersecurity, intelligent building and other core areas, and promotes the application of global intelligent building solutions.

“The open and excellent industrial investment environment and the government’s proactive investment policy have made ABB and Shenzhen closely linked with each other,” said Zhao Yongzhan, senior vice president of ABB China.

Most of the newly established foreign-funded enterprises set up in Shenzhen in the first half of this year belong to the service industry, according to the city’s commerce bureau.

By the end of June this year, Shenzhen had approved a total of 94,000 foreign direct investment projects involving US$296 billion of contractual investment. The total amount of foreign capital that has been utilized had amounted to US$117.8 billion.

The fact that foreign-funded companies keep coming to Shenzhen in large numbers is a clear demonstration of the city’s good business environment, said the Daily.

According to Qualcomm’s innovation center in Shenzhen, the city has attached great importance to the establishment of the center at the time it was set up, not only providing support in terms of site selection, but also financial subsidies that could effectively reduce the company’s operating costs.

In July, Shenzhen released a series of measures to promote high-quality development of foreign investments to help foreign businesses get through this challenging time.

To improve services, Shenzhen will formulate a comprehensive service mechanism to maintain communications with foreign businesses and understand their difficulties in resuming businesses.

With the mechanism, the city will be able to understand foreign-funded enterprises’ basic information including the progress on returning to work, rate of employee return, capacity utilization and turnover.

Efforts will be made to attract more foreign investment to fields such as advanced manufacturing, emerging industries and cutting-edge technologies. Foreign-invested companies will be encouraged to participate in government procurements in a fair way.

Channels will be opened for suppliers to address complaints and issues.

Foreign firms praise city’s business environment

 Shenzhen's ever-improving business environment is widely applauded by foreign-funded enterprises that are operating businesses in the city, Shenzhen Evening News reported Thursday.

At the Seminar on Jointly Meeting Challenges and Seeking Innovative Development held in the city Wednesday, participating foreign-funded companies expressed their firm confidence in seeking further development in Shenzhen.

The city has attracted more than 90,000 foreign-invested enterprises and has absorbed nearly US$300 billion of contractual foreign investment over the past 40 years, with foreign companies having made positive and remarkable contributions to the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone.

Shenzhen kept up its momentum in drawing foreign investment this year. During the January-July period, the city’s actual use of foreign capital amounted to nearly US$4.9 billion, according to official data.

On Aug. 6, American tech company Dell opened a solution center in Shenzhen Kexing Science Park. The center aims to provide IT planning and investment services for small businesses and help them realize digital transformation.

According to Zhu Cheng, manager of the solution center, the fact that Shenzhen has more than 2 million small and medium-sized enterprises, accounting for 99.6 percent of the total number of enterprises, shows that the city has strong market vitality and a superb business environment.

“More than 70 percent of small businesses in Shenzhen are digitally mature at the medium level or even a higher level,” said Zhu, adding that Shenzhen is an important market for Dell.

In 2018, Germany’s DIHK chambers of industry and commerce established an innovation center in the city.

“We located the innovation center in Shenzhen to prove to nearly 5,000 German companies the charm of Shenzhen,” said Maximilian Butek, delegate and chief representative of the delegation of German Industry and Commerce Guangzhou.

The innovation center has organized 20 German delegations to visit Shenzhen for cooperation, helped more than 10 German companies to settle in Shenzhen, and promoted a number of Sino-German cooperation project

SZ a ‘springboard for mainland, intl. markets’

 Shenzhen not only serves as a springboard for entering the mainland market but also for the international market, Li Dawei, director of Shenzhen Open Innovation Lab, said while addressing the Cross-Strait Young Maker Forum held at Sino-Finnish Design Park on Friday afternoon.

A Taiwan maker who has been working in Shenzhen for many years, Li cited many real-life examples of how Chinese and foreign entrepreneurs successfully developed their businesses in African countries by learning from the successful models of Shenzhen. He illustrated his point of view: “Nowadays, people overseas don’t want to copy a Silicon Valley, they want to copy a Shenzhen.”

“Why do I cite so many stories about Africa? Especially for startups from Taiwan, when you are considering the Chinese mainland, it’s not only about the mainland market, it’s actually a springboard for entering the international market. Going global from Shenzhen, from the mainland, enjoys many advantages: The mainland’s industrial base, the open and innovative supply chain... these have already brought many opportunities for young startups,” said Li.

Zhang Jiuzhou, co-founder of XIVO DESIGN, shared how their company stands out in the market via innovation and observation of the trend and lifestyle of young people. The company is helping an increasing number of maker teams to gain market share and succeed through their unique designs.

Shirley Feng, president of the Shenzhen Industrial Design Profession Association (SIDA) and founder of Sino-Finnish Design Park, said she was deeply impressed with the valuable experiences from the development miracles of the special economic zones (SEZs) including Shenzhen, which was identified by President Xi Jinping during a speech Oct. 14 at a gathering marking the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Shenzhen SEZ.

“Sino-Finnish Design Park is creating better platforms for communication and services for cross-Straits young makers,” said Yang Li, vice director of Shenzhen’s Taiwan affairs office, who added that the upgrading and transformation of enterprises and cities requires innovation and entrepreneurship.

Friday’s forum was jointly organized by the city’s development and reform commission, science, technology and innovation commission and Taiwan affairs office

SZ invites global investors

 Shenzhen has been prodding foreign investors to invest in the city, announcing the Second Shenzhen Global Investment Promotion Conference will be held at the main venue of Wuzhou Guest House in Futian District on Dec. 8 and eight subvenues overseas.

The remarks were made by Wang Youming, director of the commerce bureau, at a news conference held by the Shenzhen Municipal Government Information Office at the Civic Center in Futian yesterday.

The eight subvenues will be in New York in the U.S., Panama City in Panama, London in the U.K., Nuremburg in Germany, Johannesburg in South Africa, Tokyo in Japan, Sydney in Australia and Singapore, as per the conference.

“Representatives from more than 300 firms and institutions, including 65 global top 500 enterprises and 21 China’s top 500 enterprises, will participate in the event. In addition, 140 foreign-funded enterprises have confirmed to participate. Among them, 57 are foreign nationals and 18 of them are chairpersons of their companies. They have long been living in China,” said Wang.

The firms mainly engage in industries of new-generation technologies, high-end manufacturing, new materials, biopharmacy, finance, trade and digital economy.

Due to the pandemic, some executives of multinationals, such as Airbus, IBM, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), ABB Group and Prudential Financial, will participate in the conference via video links.

Shenzhen held the first global investment promotion conference last December, attracting 600 guests, including officials from Chinese ministries, consular representatives in China, officials from Shenzhen’s international friendship cities, top technology companies and well-known investment institutions. That conference witnessed 128 projects signed with a total investment of 560 billion yuan (US$80 billion).

The conference also introduced Shenzhen’s 30-square-kilometer land lots that were seeking global investors for industrial development, and corresponding supporting policies.

“In the past year, we have flattened the land and adjusted plans to ensure land supplies to the enterprises. So far, 22 square kilometers of land have been made ready for use,” Wang Cefei, deputy chief of the city’s planning and natural resources bureau, said at yesterday’s conference.

The actual utilized foreign investment of Shenzhen was US$7 billion in the first 10 months this year, making up 6.1 percent of China’s total and an increase of 7.5 percent year on year, according to the conference.

Tax subsidy benefits high-end professionals

 Over 3,100 high-end professionals from overseas who work in Shenzhen have applied for a subsidy for the individual income tax that was implemented in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area by the Central agencies.

Since the rule was implemented in Shenzhen in August, the city has worked out detailed plans and more than 3,000 overseas professionals had applied by the Sept. 15 deadline, Gu Yunhong, deputy director of the Shenzhen Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, said at a press conference yesterday.

The “professionals” refer to permanent residency holders in Hong Kong and Macao, or mainland people who have received permanent residency permits through talent programs in Hong Kong and Macao and have had their mainland hukou canceled, Taiwan residents and foreign nationals whose taxable income have reached a specified limit, and returned professionals from overseas who have obtained a permanent residency permit overseas.

They can apply for the subsidies as long as they have worked in Shenzhen for more than 90 days and have paid taxes according to the law if they meet one of the following criteria:

1. They have been selected into the talent programs of national, provincial and municipal levels, obtained category A or category B work permits, Guangdong talent cards, or high-end professional certificates.

2. They are managerial talent at or above the middle level of a company or a member of a research team engaging in national, provincial or municipal-level major innovation platforms.

3. They are members of research teams in higher learning institutions, research institutes or hospitals, or members of research teams that carry out key research tasks above the municipal level.

4. They are talented staff members working at high-tech companies, major enterprises, listed companies or headquarters companies that have been accredited by the Shenzhen government, or in key industries or key areas of the city.

The subsidy standard is based on the tax discrepancies of tax bases between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, according to Gu.

Gu cited an example. If an executive needs to pay 250,000 yuan (US$37,925) in taxes in Shenzhen for his 1 million yuan income as compared to 150,000 yuan in taxes in Hong Kong for the same income, Shenzhen will offer a 100,000-yuan subsidy in taxes for the discrepancy.

“This subsidy policy has received a warm response from professionals and employers as well because it lowers costs and builds up the competitiveness of enterprises and reduces the tax burden for professionals,” said Gu.

SZ takes No. 3 in sustainable development

 Shenzhen takes third place in sustainable development of 2019 among 100 Chinese cities, according to a report released in Beijing on Tuesday.

Zhuhai and Beijing took the first two places, the report jointly made by China Center for International Economic Exchanges, Columbia University, AliResearch and Social Science Academic Press showed.

The other cities in the top 10 are Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Qingdao, Wuxi, Nanjing, Shanghai and Xiamen.

The report surveyed 100 cities and showed China improved its sustainability while keeping its economic stability.

The Chinese cities are gradually becoming more sustainable, especially in social and economic aspects. Between 2016 and 2018, the indexes of the country’s economic growth increased 12 percent on average, showing recovery of economic driving power after upgrading and improving economic structure and growth.

In the subcategories, Shenzhen took second place, following Beijing, in quality economic development, energy saving and emission reduction.

The coastal provinces and municipalities took the lead positions compared to the central and western regions of the country. Among the top 10 provinces and municipalities, Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Tianjin showed remarkable achievements in economic development, environment treatment, social livelihood and emission reduction. Anhui in central China and Chongqing in western China took the No. 6 and No. 8 positions, respectively, in the ranking for sustainability.

Considering the pandemic and reviewing the U.N. Sustainable Development Agenda for 2030, the report suggested China form its own dual circulation development pattern, sticking to the philosophy of green development and high-quality development driven by innovation and led by technology, and eliminating institutional barriers through supply-side structural reform.