"We are talking about some favorable policies for the parks," Geng Zhanxiu, vice-director of the ministry's High and New Technology Department, said in a recent interview.

"It is a new attempt to combine technology and education to enter the national economic arena," he said.

To date, 44 scientific parks have been built around the country in places like Beijing-based Tsinghua University, East China's Fujian-based Xiamen University and Zhejiang-based Zhejiang University. They have attracted some 29.7 billion yuan (US$3.6 billion) from non-governmental sectors.

The specialized parks have helped push a total of 1,860 scientific findings into production.

"As a high-technology region involved in pioneering technology work and hatching work of enterprises near the universities, the parks have provided a lot of jobs as well as an arena for the students to learn about business," Geng said.

With the advantages of university resources, including talent, experimental instruments and technology, the parks use higher education to serve society while meeting the demands of fast-growing economy, Geng said.

Tsinghua University built its science park in 1994, and achieved significant results since then.

To date, some 300 domestic and overseas enterprises and research institutes, such as the Germany-based Schlumberger Company, have entered the Tsinghua science park.

"We attach great importance to international cooperation. For example, we have launched overseas funds through cooperation with America, Singapore and Taiwan," said Mei Meng, managing director of the development center of Tsinghua science park.

Focusing on transferring advanced technology from foreign countries, the Tsinghua science park has also worked with scientific parks in Japan and South Korea, to help cultivate domestic technological firms.

"Beijing authorities have given us a lot of support, offering financial help and subsidies for some of our companies as well as improving the surrounding environment," Mei said.

Meanwhile, the park also contributes a lot to the development of the city. Tsinghua science park has invested over 3 billion yuan (US$363 million) to improve the environment of Beijing.

(China Daily December 23, 2003)