Technological Development Zone Research Articles

China’s Transition to a Knowledge Economy

The Chinese economic reforms which started in 1978 were not just one set of reforms, but a cumulative and overlapping set of reforms over a 30-year period which effectively embedded knowledge creation in the Coastal regions of China. This resulted from the interaction of four processes, facilitated by Foreign Direct Investment and the increasing prosperity of China’s Coastal regions. The first process was the opening up of the Coastal regions to foreign investment through the establishment of Special Economic Zones. The second process was accumulation of knowledge through the establishment of Science & Technology Parks and Technology Development Zone’s. The third process was the incentivisation of research. The final process was the reform of China’s educational system. While the first two processes facilitated knowledge transfer and knowledge creation, the latter two processes underpinned knowledge creation activities in China. However, while the ‘knowledge’-oriented reforms facilitated the transfer of knowledge and the incentivisation of research, they did little to change the style of learning and teaching in China. This remains deeply rooted in the Confucian tradition which prevents the development of abstract thinking and thus inhibits creative thinking. Nevertheless, Chinese students who study abroad do so under educational systems which are more conducive to the development of creative thinking.

Using Export Market Performance to Evaluate Regional Preferential Policies in China

We apply program evaluation methods to analyze the effectiveness of two types of preferential regional policy programs in China's manufacturing sector. Economic and Technological Development Zones (ETDZs) aim to facilitate firms' internationalization strategies. Science and Technology Industrial Parks (STIPs) aim to generate technology spillovers. We focus on various dimensions of export market performance as objective indicators for the upgrading of product quality and firm operations. We compare startups that locate into one of these zones with other startups, while controlling for self-selection. The findings suggest that firms locating in an ETDZ do much better on sheer quantity of trade, i.e. the total volume of exports and number of destinations are higher. Firms locating in a STIP perform best on `quality' dimensions, in particular they fetch higher export prices, even by destination and especially for firms producing machinery.

Instructional System Design in Employee Training in the Industrial Area: Take Research on the“Blue-Collar Talent” Project in Xiasha Economic and Technological Development Zone of Hangzhou as the Example

Modern educational technologies have been playing an important role in “blue-collar talent” staff quality education and training project in Xiasha Economic and Technological Development Zone of Hangzhou. The theoretical part of this article has explored the features and connections between the educational technologies and instructional system design in the “blue-collar talent” project, and has proposed the employee training model in this development zone according to the constructivism-based instructional system design theory. For this case, this article has made an in-depth analysis on the educational resources and performance evaluation in employee training in the development zone, and has also put forward the corresponding suggestions in accordance with the theme of educational technology in the “blue-collar talent” project.

Source Apportionment of Atmospheric Total Suspended Particulate (TSP) in Zhuankou Area of Wuhan

Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone (WEDZ) is situated to Zhuankou area, Wuhan. WEDZ is a national level development zone approved by the State Council of P.R.C. in April 1993. With nearly 20 years development history, WEDZ has grown into an important engine in economic development of Wuhan City. Meanwhile, atmospheric environment quality has become more and more worse, and paid on more and more attention. Great importance is attached to the identification of the sources of ambient particulates. The purpose of this study was to identify and estimate the contribution of major sources to atmospheric total suspended particulate (TSP) matter in Zhuankou area, Wuhan. In the study, the technique of factor analysis (FA) was employed to identify and quantify the major sources of atmospheric pollutant in Zhuankou area, Wuhan. The results indicate that the major sources of atmospheric pollutant in Zhuankou area are mainly construction and soil fugitive dust, coal-firing and motor vehicle.

(Post)Suburban Development and State Entrepreneurialism in Beijing's Outer Suburbs

Chinese cities are experiencing rapid urban expansion and rampant land conversions in periurban areas. Has China's suburban growth gone beyond commonly noted ‘suburbanisation’? To what extent does fast metropolitan growth reflect state entrepreneurialism after economic reform? The authors seek to elaborate further and contextualise Chinese suburban and postsuburban development and examine the underlying dynamics of state entrepreneurialism in the process of metropolitan development. The empirical basis of this research is a case study of the historical development of Yizhuang, an outer suburban new town of Beijing. The city originates from the establishment of the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone in 1992, but has passed rapidly through several phases of growth. The pattern of growth reveals both the complexities of adequately defining and delimiting such a growth node within the metropolitan fabric and of the state's intimate involvement in its development and evolution.

Analysis on Construction of Emergency Management Coordination for A Given State-level Economic and Technological Development Zone

This paper briefly introduces the mutual progress of city emergency and informatization, discusses construction model of Emergency Response Platform for the combination of “Peacetime” and “Wartime”, states the construction of transaction system for “Prevention” and “Disposition” in Emergency Response Platform, and finally points out the orientation of development.

Ekonomiczne i technologiczne strefy rozwoju Chin (kwantyfikacja, stratyfikacja, metodyka)

As a result of the new economic policy, fourteen Economic and Technological Development Zones (ETDZs) were established in twelve coastal cities between 1984 and 1988. The first ETDZs were Dalian, Yantai, Qingdao, Lianyungang, Nantong, Minhang (Shanghai), Hongqiao (Shanghai), Caohejing (Shanghai), Ningbo, Fuzhou, Guangzhou and Zhanjiang. Unlike Special Economic Zone (SEZ), an ETDZ is located in the suburban area of a major city. Special policies are adopted within the ETDZ. An administrative committee, normally selected by the local government, oversees economic and social management in the zones on behalf of the local government. The category ‘SEZ’ covers a broad range of more specific zone types, including Free Trade Zones (FTZ), Export Processing Zones (EPZ), Free Zones (FZ), Industrial Estates (IE), Free Ports, Urban Enterprise Zones and others. The second wave of expansion of ETDZs was led by the establishment of Pudong New District in Shanghai in 1990. This decision was aimed at elevating the status of Shanghai, making it the “Dragon Head” of the Yangtze River Delta Region, which comprises of Shanghai and parts of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Prior to the establishment of this new district, the Pearl River Delta Region – comprising nine cities in Guangdong – was the forerunner of China’s open door policy. However, unlike Guangdong, which lies at the south-eastern coast of China, Shanghai’s economic development will have more impact on China’s vast hinterland. Between 1992 and 1993, a total of eighteen state-level ETDZs were established – Yingkou, Changchun, Shenyang, Harbin, Weihai, Kunshan, Hangzhou, Xiaoshan, Wenzhou, Rongqiao, Dongshan, Guangzhou Nansha, Huizhou Daya Bay, Wuhu, Wuhan, Chongqing, Beijing and Urumchi. Two special projects were added later. Founded in 1993, the Ningbo Daxie Development Zone is an investment by China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC), and comes under its management. The other special project is the Suzhou Industrial Park, which was founded in 1994, and is a joint cooperation between the governments of China and Singapore. After 2000, in an effort to fuel the development of the Central and Western regions, the central government also endorsed the establishment of a further eleven national ETDZs in inland regions. Up till now, China has a total of fifty-four state-level ETDZs – thirty-two in coastal regions, and twenty-two in the hinterland. The region of Hong Kong has a role and status of innovation. The planners in this unique part of East Asia expect that some new concepts can help the former British colony to embrace a new economic model: a model in which design, marketing and branding play the crucial role in economy.

A method for controlling enterprises access to an eco-industrial park

Member enterprises have a vital effect on the stability and system efficiency of an eco-industrial park (EIP), and a selection and control for them is an important part. This paper proposes a new method which is an establishment of both an access indicator system and an extendable optimal degree evaluation model. The indicator system comprises seven primary indicators and twenty-seven secondary indicators. The first three primary indicators, matching the existing industrial chains or not, park capacity and park environmental performance improvement, are proposed from the perspective of an EIP. The others including eco-design, economic benefit, utilization of resources, and pollution control, are suggested from the point of view of enterprises. This new access indicator system provides a basis for evaluating candidate enterprises. The extendable optimal degree evaluation which was proposed by Prof. Caiwen is a method to assess the satisfactoriness of all the indicators and to assign an optimal degree order to each candidate enterprise accordingly. There are four steps to conduct the evaluation after establishing the access indicator system: (1) selecting correlation function; (2) calculating correlations; (3) assigning weights and current values of indicators; and (4) calculating the optimal degree of all the candidate enterprises. The enterprises can be ranked based on optimal degree results. The highest-ranked enterprise should have the highest priority of entering the EIP. This study provides the specifics of applying the method by examining the case of Yantai Economy Technology Development Zone EIP (YTEIP) in Shandong province. The method provides a practical tool for controling enterprise access to an EIP. However, the reasonability and validity of indicators and effectiveness of the established method of extendable optimal degree evaluation merit further studies.

Exploring talent flow in Wuhan automotive industry cluster at China

In recent 10 years, the city of Wuhan has built a big automotive industry cluster in China. The Wuhan automotive cluster is developing quickly, but scarcity of talent has become the bottleneck for its development. Recruiting talented worker is a significant concern and the influence factors of talent flow have been explored. The questionnaire about influence factors of talent flow are designed and sent to nine core enterprises at Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone. One hundred and seventy five automotive specialists returned the effective answer sheet. In the questionnaire survey, principal components analysis is used to explore the structure of this instrument, which suggests five components: industry cluster characteristic, urban environment, working environment, income and individual factor. The investigation result demonstrates the top three of these components are income, working environment and individual factor.

China's R & D Policies and Technology-intensive Industries

This article reveals the role of research and development (R&D) policies in the development of the technology-intensive industries of China. Since economic reform began in 1978, the Chinese government has transformed the R&D system from one that was wholly centrally planned into a more market-orientated system, making it more efficient and productive. At the same time, the state, its incentives and its investment remain significant. The government has increased the R&D expenditure rapidly, while trying to develop indigenous technologies. It has actively utilised foreign direct investment inflows as the means to introduce advanced technology from developed countries. It has also provided systematic guidelines and established the economic technology development zones and high technology industrial development zones, in order to channel foreign investment inflows into technology-intensive industries. China has placed emphasis on the development of human resources in science and technology as well. Finally, the implications of the role of government in developing technology-intensive industries are considered.

Technological Learning and Innovation in China in the Context of Globalization

A team of China- and U.S.-based geographers develops the theoretical concept of "learning field" to advance the study of technological innovation through networking under conditions of ongoing globalization. The concept is applied in a survey of ca. 100 firms in the Zhengzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone, located in a relatively underdeveloped region of China. The findings emphasize the different patterns and challenges confronting companies of differing size, property rights, and R&D capacities, as well as the variable extent to which technological learning is based on local versus global linkages and networking. Key elements involved in successful technological upgrading (in addition to networking) are identified, including market structure, competitive strategies, and capital. Also examined are the roles played by geographic, relational, and institutional factors in providing opportunities for learning and cooperation among firms in an industrial district. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: D21, D83, O31, P20. 8 figures, 3 tables, 67 references.

Simulation and evaluation on the eco-industrial system of Changchun economic and technological development zone, China

Reasonable structure, adaptive patterns and effective regulation of society, economy and environment subsystems should be taken into account in order to obtain harmonious development of urban eco-industrial system. We simulated and evaluated a redesigned eco-industrial system in Changchun Economic and Technological Development Zone (CCETDZ) in the present work using system dynamics and grey cluster methods. Four typical development strategies were simulated during 2005-2020 via standard system dynamic models. Furthermore, analytic hierarchy process and grey cluster allowed for the eco-industrial system evaluation and scenarios optimizing. Our dynamic simulation and statistical analysis revealed that: (1) CCETDZ would have different development scenarios under different strategies. The total population in scenario 2 grew most rapidly and reached 3.28 x 10(5) in 2020, exceeding its long-term planning expected population. And the GDP differences among these four scenarios would amount to 6.41 x 10(10) RMB. On the other hand, environmental pollution would become serious along with economy increasing. As a restriction factor, positive or negative increment of water resource will occur according to the selected strategy. (2) The fourth strategy would have the best efficiency, which means that the most efficiently development of CCETDZ required to take science, technology, environment progress and economy increase into account at the same time. (3) Positive environment protection measures, such as cleaner production, green manufacture, production life cycle management and environment friendly industries, should be attached great importance the same as economy development during 2005-2020 in CCETDZ.

Development of the Greening of Industrial Firms in the Cities along Taihu Lake: A Case Study in Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province

Under the globalization, the coastal China becomes a hot area of the international manufacturing investment due to its priority location, excellent environment, lower labor and land costs, etc. However, the fast industrialization has aroused the great demolishment to the local ecological environment. For example, the heavy water eutrophication in Taihu Lake has affected the source of drinking water for the cities around the lake. Anyway, in order to keep the economic increase and reduce the resource expense and pollution at the same time, it is necessary to encourage the greening of industrial enterprises actively for sustainable development. On the basis of the investigation of industrial enterprises in Wuxi city within Taihu Basin, the relatively developed region in coastal China, this paper analyzed the development process of green industry. This article concluded that governmental principal is the main pressure for enterprises to protect environment while the market factor plays a part role. Moreover, enterprises in the high technology development zone work better in environmental protection than those in the villages and towns, while the large enterprises work better than those small enterprises.

Bus Arrival Time Prediction Using Support Vector Machines

Effective prediction of bus arrival time is central to many advanced traveler information systems. This article presents support vector machines (SVM), a new neural network algorithm, to predict bus arrival time. The objective of this paper is to examine the feasibility and applicability of SVM in vehicle travel time forecasting area. Segment, the travel time of current segment, and the latest travel time of next segment are taken as three input features. Bus arrival time predicted by the SVM is assessed with the data of transit route number 4 in Dalian economic and technological development zone in China and conclusions are drawn.

A Regional Innovation System in Gestation: Guangdong

This article examines industrial and technological growth in the province of Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta. It is based on a report drawn up by a team of researchers and professors under the authority of the Department of Science and Technology of Guangdong province, and on interviews with local authorities and enterprises. It examines the growth in Guangdong's research and technology system, enterprise investment in Research and Development (R&D), the particular role of collective enterprises, the technological development zones, and the policy of industrial clusters. Since 1999, the provincial authorities have sought to respond to the transformation of industrial space, by offering to set up a series of innovation centres located in specialised production areas. This article offers an initial assessment of this strategy of transforming industrial space into regional innovation space.

Chinese Science and Technology Industrial Parks. By Susan M. Walcott. [Aldershot, Hants: Ashgate, 2003. x+220pp. £55.00. ISBN 0-7546-0952-9.

One of the institutional innovations in China's reform and open-door era is the establishment of economic and technological development zones, export processing zones, science and technology parks, and other “zones” or “parks” at geographically diverse regions. This book represents an effort to investigate some of the science and technology industrial parks (STIPs). For the geographer Walcott, such parks are oriented to multinational development, multinational learning, and local innovation learning, based on “the type of activity contained and the type of company profiled” (p. 13). In particular, she shows that multinational corporations (MNCs) have become the growth engines for China's leapfrog into the 21st century with their contributions to China's exports, high tech as well as low tech, and the creation of new jobs. Therefore, in cities like Shenzhen, Dongguan, and Suzhou, MNCs have mainly processed and assembled products using foreign-imported critical parts plus locally-made components with the help of cheap labor and easy access to major ports such as Hong Kong and Shanghai. On the other hand, in Shanghai, the best example of a multinational learning zone capable of providing a wide range of skills, goods and services, MNCs are engaged in manufacturing activities in proximity to Chinese firms, research and development entities, both within and outside designated STIPs. Finally, Beijing, Shenzhen (again), and Xi'an, according to Walcott, have represented another model where the proximity of domestic firms to institutions of learning has facilitated knowledge transfer.

Environmental management systems at the industrial park level in China.

Environmental management systems (EMSs), such as International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001, can be used as a tool in China by industrial park managers to improve their environmental performance. This article uses the case of the Dalian Economic and Technological Development Zone (DETDZ) to show how to establish a comprehensive environmental management system (CEMS) according to the ISO 14001 standard at the industrial park level by considering local realities. The particularly interesting feature of this case study is the use of a CEMS (in this case, ISO 14001) by the administrative group of the DETDZ to develop a more comprehensive approach to the wide range of environmental issues that they face in running the zone. In essence the goal is to address many of the issues at the level of the zone. The incentives, benefits, and barriers associated with implementing ISO 14001 are described. However, implementation of an EMS should not be thought of as the ultimate objective for an industrial park's environmental management. The next steps include encouraging further public participation and taking an integrated approach leading to an industrial ecosystem, which can realize better environmental performance at the industrial park level.

Japanese direct investment in China

This paper uses survey data to study the characteristics of Japanese direct investment in China as compared to those in the newly industrializing economies (NIEs) and in the member countries of ASEAN. Japanese firms invest in China for cost reasons as well as to expand their market shares. This paper also examines the determinants of Japanese direct investment in China using a regional data set from 1990 to 2000. To form a basis of comparison we run similar regressions for the largest foreign direct investor in China: Hong Kong. Local demands affect significantly the inflow of investment from both sources. Wage costs exert a larger influence on Hong Kong investment than on Japanese investment, which can be explained by the difference in the characteristics of investment projects from Hong Kong and those from Japan. Japanese firms appear to be attracted to Economic and Technology Development Zones, whereas Hong Kong firms are more attracted to Special Economic Zones and Open Coastal Cities. The quality of infrastructure matters more for firms from Hong Kong than from Japan. Distance does not affect Japanese direct investment significantly. This may reflect Japan's extensive experience in managing its operations in the global marketplace.

Modelling Intrametropolitan Location of Foreign Investment Firms in a Chinese City

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is now becoming a driving force for world-wide urban structuring. Very few studies have been made at the intrametropolitan scale of industrial location in post-socialist cities. Studies at a regional scale have generally emphasised the 'peculiar' nature of FDI and have resorted to the description of 'special factors' such as kinship ties and social networks to explain FDI location processes in contemporary urban China. With the aid of GIS techniques, this study geo-located FDI firms through their postal codes and measured the site characteristics through cross-referencing location factors presented in the coverage such as infrastructure and land use. This study used logistic regressions to examine how site attributes influence the popularity of a development site. The results suggest that intraurban FDI firm location can be explained by the location advantages prevailing at development sites, among which highway accessibility, the access to major high-ranking hotels and the status of the Economic and Technological Development Zone (ETDZ) are important determinants in addition to conventional location factors such as access to railway terminals, agglomeration economies and labour markets. The implications of FDI location for the urban spatial structure are profound. First, FDI has transformed the function of the city centre (for example, an emerging CBD). Secondly, the intrametropolitan distribution of FDI has triggered polycentric urban growth in Chinese cities.

Development of technopoles in China

Although limited technology transfer among countries has occurred in the past 15 years or so, industrialised countries are unwilling to transfer their state‐of‐the‐art technologies to less developed countries, for both political and economic reasons. As a result, China decided to speed research and development of its own high technologies and commercialise them by establishing in the late 1980s 52 High and New Technology Industry Development Zones. Through these zones achievements of scientific research could be transformed into competitive commodities and a new generation of entrepreneurs and competent managers could be bred. While China’s high technology development zones were modelled on the general concept of technopole, they are not exact duplicates of any of the three types of technopole that have been developed in the Western industrialised countries; they have distinct Chinese characteristics. This study also found that contrary to the popular belief, the high technology zones in coastal provinces as a whole do not perform much better than those in interior provinces. Instead, the majority of the zones that are located in provincial capital cities exhibited above‐average performance. This suggests that capital cities in interior provinces can compete well with coastal cities in development of high‐tech industries.