Ningbo High-Tech Zone to spend $73.8m annually for software development

Ningbo Maker Space, an incubation center for startups in the Ningbo High-Tech Zone, Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province [Photo/zj.zjol.com]

A new policy was recently released by the administrative committee of Ningbo High-Tech Zone to grant 500 million yuan ($73.8 million) every year for boosting the development of its Ningbo Software Park. 

The policy, including 20 specific measures, covers every aspect of the development of the local software industry, from project landing, infrastructure building to talent and investment attraction. 

The funds will mainly go to companies specializing in industrial software, industrial internet, cloud computing, the internet of things, big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain and integrated circuits. 

Ningbo launched an initiative last year for building itself into a famous characteristic Chinese software city to contribute to the nation's "Made in China 2025" plan on promoting manufacturing.

As the Ningbo Software Park plays a key role in achieving that goal, Ningbo High-Tech Zone has organized seven promotional meetings at the park over the past year, attracting 132 companies to settle there, with a total registered capital of 3.9 billion yuan. 

Nearly half of the companies focus on developing the new generation of information technologies and one third work on internet services, cloud computing, the internet of things, and big data applications.