November 19, 2007 -- An agreement was signed on November 7 to set up a Chongqing Branch of the Software Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). It will be known as the Chongqing Sub-center of National Foundation Software Research Center (NFS) and it will be based in Xiyong Micro-electronic Industry Development Zone. This is the first software industry base that CAS established in Chongqing.

The participants of the agreement included CAS, NFS, Chongqing Information Industry Bureau and Chongqing Xiyong Micro-electronic Industry Development Zone. According to the agreement, CAS and NFS will extensively cooperate with Chongqing municipality on key research fields, such as, development strategies for the software industry, product development, independent intellectual property rights, and producing people with software skills.

"In the course of the course of the cooperation, the base will take advantage of research and development skills of CAS' Software Institute and the software marketing potential of NFS," Hui Lei, Market Director of NFS, told Emerging China. The aim of this, he said, will be to improve the level of research in the area of software development, and to cultivate and develop the leading enterprises of the software industry in Chongqing. More generally it will promote the information technology industry in Chongqing and along the Yangzi River.

The Chongqing branch of CAS is the second such institute in the country.

"Chongqing is a megapolis with big potential in Western china and the important development area of Western Development. It has the advantages of advanced local conditions, strong industrial foundations, strengths in science and education, a wealth of talent, and a market with huge potential," Kelong Liu, the chief of technology at Software Institute of CAS, told Emerging China.

"Information Industry Department has decided to put the first ‘National Integrated Circuit and Software Development Base' in Chongqing. It is predicted that the base will go public in the middle of this month, which is a big business opportunity to software industry," said Qifan Huang, the administrative vice mayor during the signing ceremony.

According to Huang, the signing of the agreement has an important strategic significance to attract large software enterprises to set up in Chongqing. This will increase the creative ability of the software industry in Chongqing and help the local IT industry.

This year, some research and development institutes of CAS - including an industrial communication technology center, a simulation center, and an ecology and environmental observation station in the Three Gorges reservoir area - have started and established in Chongqing.

"When conditions are ripe, we will set up Chongqing embedded Software Park in Xiyongwei Electronic garden, to drive the embedded software industry in Chongqing city and the development of equipment manufacturing industry," Liu said.