Haidian district, Beijing's designated area for technological innovations and development, is reporting tremendous progress in the first four months in 2018, with its information service industry contributing to 35 percent of the district's economic growth, and the value of its industrial enterprises above the designated scale growing by 25 percent.

Information and scientific research are two major industries leading technological innovations in Haidian. In the first quarter, the two industries took up 48.2 percent of the district's GDP, and drove its economic growth rate up by 6.6 percentage points.

With its strong talent pool, Haidian has attracted over 80 companies working on integrated circuit (IC) design, including mobile communication, information security and processors. In 2017, the revenue of these companies totaled 19.1 billion yuan (US$2.98 billion).

Over the years, the district's Zhongguancun West area has moved out its wholesale small electronics markets. In their place – an area of 600,000 square meters – now sit the incubators of high-tech startups. Unicorn companies like UCOMMUNE, ofo and other high-tech companies found their way to develop here. Furthermore, the area provides a platform for competition between startups that help to nurture technological innovations.

During the first quarter of the year, the district saw 3,522 newly established tech companies, accounting for over 70 percent of the new market entities and about 30 percent of Beijing's tech companies, ranking the first among all districts. Companies that are in line with new economic modes, such as digital economy and sharing economy, account for 73 percent of the total.

Haidian also attaches great importance to core technology development, basic research, and research on cutting-edge technologies. The Zhongguancun Cutting-edge Technology Innovation Center, the Zhongguancun Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Entrepreneurship Base, the Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences and other institutions on high-tech research have established their base in Haidian, underpinning the district’s industrial economic growth.

According to the district officials, Haidian will further expand its number of high-tech companies. In the next three years, there will be two or three new enterprises with market value of 100 billion yuan that lead technological innovations and have an influence on the global market.