24 Guiyang special Friday, October 23, 2015 CHINA DAILY

By YANG JUN and ZHAO KAI

As the world crowdfund-ing summit begins in Gui-yang on Friday, the city announced its plan to further boost the internet fi nancing and crowdfunding industry by establishing a small town within the city.

The “crowdfunding town” is due to be fully operational in 2017 and will be located beside Yueshan Lake, cov-ering 66.6 hectares with a total investment of 2.5 bil-lion yuan ($394 million), said Wang Yuxiang, vice-mayor of Guiyang.

The town’s fi rst residents will be selected from a crowd-funding contest during the summit, where more than 500 project groups are due to participate in a contest to demonstrate their ideas and products.

Eventually the top 300 groups will be invited to set-tle in the town.

“In recent years, Internet fi nancing has become one of the pillar industry towards the State Council’s Internet Plus strategic development pattern. The establishment of the crowdfunding town will further strengthen and accelerate the development speed,” Wang said.

“The town will be a huge boost for the city’s crowd-funding fi nancing system.”

As a place for entrepre-

neurs in Guiyang to start their businesses, the town will feature banks, trust funds, lofts and a crowdfund-ing academy, he added.

“We hope the place will become a home for young entrepreneurs and makers to realize their dreams,” said the so called “Hotpot Queen” He Yongzhi, chairwoman of the Chongqing Cygnet Investment Group and also one of the founders of the crowdfunding town in Gui-yang.

The 62-year-old was invit-ed to Guiyang for a business trip earlier this year and she became a fan of the city, say-ing the environment and determination of the govern-ment would be key to boost internet fi nancing.

“From where I see it, Gui-yang is a promising city with

many emerging industries, such as big-data and cloud computing, and the clean air and enjoyable climate will also help in attract-ing investors,” she said, adding that the idea of a crowdfunding town will soon attract many inves-tors such as her and is sup-ported by the government of Guiyang.

One of the highlights of the town is that everything is based on the concept of crowdfunding, including capital, sta> members and resources, according to He.

The architectural style of the town will be based on traditional Chinese ele-ments, with both classical and ethnic styles. However, the building process will use modern and creative technologies.

“This is just a reminder of the town’s core principal, which is innovation and creation. Besides providing financial support, we want to give all the residents the encouragement to pursue more creative ideals and projects.” He said.

“For the future, we are tak-ing into consideration that the next phase of construc-tion will be using 3D print technology,” she said.

Contact the writers at yangjun@chinadaily.com.cn and zhaokai@chinadaily.com.cn

Hundreds of projects compete to win a place in proposed town

Yunnan

Guizhou

Guangxi

Hunan

200 km

GuiyangAnshun

By ZENG JUNzengjun@chinadaily.com.cn

The southwestern city of Guiyang is building itself into the “capital of crowdfunding”, said Liu Wenxian, chairman of the Guiyang Crowdfunding Finance Exchange.

“Crowdfunding is not just a fi nancing method, but an inno-vative business model as well, that can be applied to many fi elds,” he said. Crowdfunding is a way of getting funding for a project or venture through money from a large number of people, typically via the Inter-net.

Since 2012, the funding method has swept the world, becoming increas-

ingly popular. According to forecasts from

the World Bank, by 2025, crowdfunding investment in China is expected to reach $46 billion to $50 billion.

The Guiyang Crowdfund-ing Finance Exchange was launched in May.

According to Liu, the exchange meets all the demands of innovation and entrepreneurship, business

re-engineering and small enterprises. The ultimate goal of the exchange is to become the country’s largest listing for crowdfunding enterprises.

Guiyang saw the fastest GDP growth in the country for two years and was recognized as one of top 100 most promising cities by The Economist.

The city is also making e> orts to build a unique fi nan-cial ecosystem.

Although it is in a remote area, Guiyang has already host-ed several expos and summits related to big data and fi nance and is doing its best to build a crowdfunding fi nance system for exchanges, as well as a busi-ness college and institute.

Liu said, “In the future, there

may be four or fi ve crowdfund-ing fi nancial exchanges in Chi-na, but the exploration of Gui-yang crowdfunding fi nancial exchanges is to be reckoned.”

The World Crowdfunding Conference is being held in Guiyang from Friday through Monday.

More than 10,000 enter-prises are taking part in its 24 forums, with dozens of crowd-funding fi nance deals expected to be made.

“The World Crowdfunding Conference is not an academic forum, it will serve project investors, VCs and dealers,” said Liu. “We hope more domestic and global crowd-funding platforms will gather in Guiyang”.

Exchange aims to become China’s largest crowdfunding hub and fi nancing system

By YANG JUN and ZHAO KAI

Echoing the nation’s encour-agement for more innovation and entrepreneurship, China’s young generation is keen to set up businesses.

In Guiyang, the capital of China’s southwestern Guizhou province, the local government is aiming to attract worldwide companies with government support and economic incen-tives, as well as build platforms for startup teams to start their businesses.

“Guiyang has become one of the pioneer cities to boost social and economic develop-ment towards big data and the cloud computing industry. The city’s fine environment and joyful climate play a important role in attracting IT-related companies,” said Chen Gang, Party chief of Guiyang.

Since 2013, Guiyang has pushed for the development of big data as one of its economic pillars.

It is also hosting the World Crowdfunding Summit from Friday through Monday, which has attracted thousands of participants from all over the globe, including fi eld experts, venture capital investors and business startups. Under the theme of “Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Makers”, the summit is keen to build a plat-form for new enterprises to build their futures.

“We will build Guizhou into a leader in big data innova-tions and applications in the next three to five years,” he said, adding that emerging industries, such as big data and cloud computing, were key for western regions of the country to catch up in the era of information and technology.

To achieve the goal, the gov-ernment of Guiyang has rolled out a series of policies to attract big data enterprises, such as subsidies for renting offices, servers and tax rebates.

“By hosting the summit, Guiyang will push forward to attract more investment and further accelerate the develop-ment in the fi nancial industry.

We will also try to aid each project in a bid to facilitate them to operate smoothly in the city,” said Liu Wenxin, may-or of Guiyang.

Currently, China’s big three telecom operators — China Mobile Communications Corp, China Telecommunica-tions Corp and China United Network Communications Group Co — are devoting 15 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) to constructing three big data centers in Guizhou, which are expected to house 2 million servers.

The three carriers promised Guizhou-based big data com-panies better Internet con-nection speeds with lower prices.

In September this year, the State Council, China’s cabinet, issued a guideline to boost the development of big-data-related industries. The guideline listed Guiyang as the nation’s first big data pilot zone.

“Despite the fact that we are at frontline in develop-ment, the lack of talent and cutting-edge technology is still the weak link we have to over-come,” Chen said. He added that compared to developed regions and cities, Guiyang has to put more efforts into encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship.

To encourage more creative and innovative companies to establish branches in

Guiyang, the city has issued more than 30 supportive government policies since January, some of which pro-vide both funds and oG ces for startups.

During the summit, par-ticipants are expected to attend several conferences to voice their opinions regarding the future of crowdfunding in China.

The event also includes a fundraising contest where more than 500 small- and medium-sized enterprises will demonstrate their busi-ness projects and products to investors from home and aboard.

“What Guiyang has accom-plished in the big data indus-try in recent years gives us the advantage to seek more business models such as crowdfunding and Internet fi nancing. It will be a great boost for young entrepre-neurs to find their way to success,” said Chen.

Why Guiyang?A survey showed that

startups no longer focus as much on being based

in fi rst-tier cities and most businesses are set up in high-tech and other modern service sectors.

The survey also said, when choosing where to be based, entrepreneurs con-sider social networks, industry base, the strength of the mar-ket and the environment.

“Contrary to traditional industries, technology compa-nies su> ered the least in terms of being located regionally,” said Wang Yili, who runs a communication based com-pany in Guiyang High-Tech District.

“Most of our business and work is based on the Internet, although developed cities have the advantage in funding and talents, but the lower cost of living helps new companies to balance their consumption,” she said.

“With the help of new financing methods such as crowdfunding we save a lot of unnecessary expenses for a roadshow in big cities such as Shanghai or Shenzhen,” Wang said.

To help more young entre-preneurs like Wang, Guiyang

established the nation’s first crowdfunding exchange in May this year. During the past few months, 10 enterprises were listed in the exchange with total investment of 7.1 million yuan.

“In 2013, the total capital from crowdfunding reached $5.1 billion, 90 percent of which was in the American and European markets. How-ever, there is rapidly growing demand in the Asian market, and this is one of the reasons we established the exchange in Guiyang,” said Qu Peng, general manager of the Gui-yang exchange.

“With implementation of the nation’s innovation-driven development strat-egy, industries that are involved in innovative sectors will attract more investors from all over the world, the new financing methods will definitely help many young startups to set their course right,” he said.

Contact the writers at yangjun@chinadaily.com.cn and zhaokai@chinadaily.com.cn

2.5 billion yuan The total planned investment of the crowdfunding town in Guiyang

66.6 hectares The total area of the planned crowdfunding town in Guiyang

$46-50 billion The total crowdfunding investment by 2025 forecast by the World Bank

The Guiyang Crowdfunding Finance Exchange was launched in May and aims to become the country’s largest listing for crowdfunding fi rms,

Guiyang gets behind young entrepreneursCity rolls out series of initiatives to help new business startups

By hosting the summit, Guiyang will push forward to attract more investment and further accelerate the development in the fi nancial industry. We will also try to aid each project in a bid to facilitate them to operate smoothly in the city.”Liu Wenxin, mayor of Guiyang

15 billion yuan spent constructing three big data centers in Guizhou by three major telecom carriers in China

What Guiyang has accomplished in the big data industry in recent years gives us the advantage to seek more business models such as crowdfunding and Internet fi nancing. It will be a great boost for young entrepreneurs to fi nd their way to success.”Chen Gang, Party chief of Guiyang

The 118-km Nanming River is the “mother river” of Guiyang. It boasts picturesque views on its banks. WU WEIDI / FOR CHINA DAILY