A Tale of Two Cities: How Cooperation Helps Chengdu and Singapore Go Further As Regional Tech Engines

SINGAPORE�- Media OutReach - 9
September 2019 - Chengdu,China-At a magnificent hotel hall in Singapore,
an actor, who wore a circus-style mask painted with red cheeks and a striped
forehead, was not a clown. In the blink of an eye, his “face” switched into
another blue one with winding eyebrows.

The exotic face-changing opera, originated from
Chinese city Chengdu, has reflected how fast the place has developed. Long
known for the giant panda, hot pot and a hospitable touristic culture, Chengdu
has for the past few years seen its economy boom as one of China’s emerging
high-tech hubs. The change is just as fast as how the mask is swapped.

“Chengdu’s GDP grew 8.2 percent in the first half of
the year, the fastest among 20 Chinese metropolises,” Niu Qingbao, Chengdu’s
deputy mayor, said at the event kicked off by the mask-changing performance on
Thursday in Singapore.

The high-level forum, themed as “From Chengdu to
Singapore: Boost High-quality Development of Electronic Information Technology,”
ignited the chemistry between Chengdu and Singapore, especially in the electronic
information industry.

The electronic information industry is the strongest
pillar of Chengdu’s economy, Niu added, wishing that the event, host in one of
Asia’s leading financial and tech hubs with abundant resources and talents, can
boost further cooperation.

Ifeng.com, the online window of renowned Chinese media
Phoenix Media with roots in Chinese culture, a global perspective and a great
part of its coverage on the hi-tech industry, host the forum together with its
affiliated Phoenix International Thinktank.

Zou Ming, chief editor of ifeng.com, said that the
forum demonstrated the momentum and potential of Chengdu’s electronic
information industry to the largest corporates and the smartest brains in
Singapore, and built a bridge to foster inter-regional collaboration.

Chengdu is home to several regional centers of
multinational IT giants, including Intel and Texas Instruments, which breeds
the high-end chain within the industry, said Che Zhou, deputy director of the Chengdu
Municipal Bureau of Economic and Information Technology.

Its electronic information industry generated revenue
of 400 billion yuan ($55.8 billion) in the first half of 2019, a year-on-year
growth of 16.3 percent. The revenue of its electronic information industry is
expected to exceed 1 trillion yuan by 2020, according to a recent plan by the
city government.

Chengdu’s electronic industry is expected to take off
across six major fields, integrated circuit, new display, intelligent terminal,
high-end software, artificial intelligence and information network, which is
dubbed as six–core, screen, terminal, software, intelligent, network –in one.

The city has already befriended with Singapore. The
Singapore-Sichuan Hi-Tech Innovation Park, taking shape now, sets a good
example, Niu said.

Given the collaborative
foundation, the forum saw three deals inked, between Chengdu Municipal Bureau
of Economic and Information Technology and Singapore-China Association for
Advancement for Science and Technology, Chengdu-based software developer
Wiscred and Dynasafe Technologies Inc., plus the Chengdu National Integrated
Circuit “Chengdu
Xinhuo Integrated Circuit Industrial Center Co.,Ltd.”
Base and Shenwan Hongyuan Singapore Private Ltd.

Wang Rongfang, counsellor of Science and Technology at
the Chinese embassy in Singapore, said that the amicable bilateral
relationship, benign regulatory environment and longtime cultural exchange will
smooth their cooperation in the tech industry.

Many Asian business magnates actually have Chinese
roots, and their success can partly attribute to a Chinese style management
philosophy, said Koh Hock Kiat, CEO of Heluo Institute and the
founding Director of Confucius Institute of Nanyang Technological University.