Beijing launched its incubator of creative industries on Friday and pledged to invest heavily into the emerging sector of the economy.

Its municipal government expects creative industries to contribute up to 12 percent of the capital's GDP by the end of the 2010, said Chen Dong, deputy director of the municipal government's creative industry development leading group.

Beijing's definition of creative industries encompasses arts, advertisements, leisure, publishing, sports, television and radio, said Chen, who is also deputy director of the publicity department of the Beijing Municipal Communist Party Committee.

The government has been spending billions of yuan for their development since 2005, and Chen vowed that it would "strengthen the support on an even greater scale".

"The capital will be the heart of Chinese arts, its publishing center and sports hub. It will be the core of its antique dealings, too," he said.

At the launching ceremony of the incubator, called "International Creative Industries Alliance", he said initially the incubator will work as a platform for sharing information and investment chaneling for creative institutions such as design firms and digital arts studios. It will also serve their potential clients and investors, as well as all the talents in the sector.

The incubator was initiated by nine organizations across the world, including Beijing Gehua Cultural and Creative Industries Center, Hong Kong Design Center and the US Corporate Design Foundation.

It involved more than 80 creative organizations from over 20 countries, such as the London School of Economics and Political Science, Royal Australian Institute of Architects, Hong Kong Film Development Committee and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.

(China Daily November 10, 2007)