The information technology industry, one of the most important industries in the city, needs to further improve in quality, said Wang Youlin, deputy head of the Shenzhen Bureau of Science, Technology and Information, at the 2005 China Software and Outsourcing Forum on Monday.

The forum, co-organized by the Shenzhen Municipal Government and Shenzhen Software Park, is a prelude to the 2005 China Software Outsourcing International Summit, which will be held in December in Shenzhen.

Five veteran analysts from Gartner Inc., a U.S.-based information technology service provider, analyzed the market opportunities presented by new kinds of information technologies, the future of the IT industry in the world and in China, and obstacles for Chinese enterprises in getting a bigger market share in the world software outsourcing market.

"We have been expanding our research in China since three years before, and we think China will grow up to be one of the biggest software outsourcing locations in the world," said Gartner's Group Vice President Jamie Popkin.

"But we find that most Chinese companies still have a lot of problems entering the international market, for example lack of understanding about the global market and poor business management. We think we can help in these ways," he said.

Popkin said Shenzhen had a good foundation for software development. The city has attracted many multinational IT companies, including IBM and Oracle, and has cultivated an image as a high-tech center in the country.

Local high-tech companies, including Huawei Technologies and ZTE, Gartner's first two biggest clients in China, have won worldwide acclaims, and this has helped the city win more recognition
in overseas markets.

Shenzhen is the biggest software exporter of China. In 2004, the revenue of the city's software industry reached 116 billion yuan (US$14.3 billion), and the software export revenue reached US$1.2 billion, according to official figures.

However, software exported from the city is mostly embedded software, and pure software forms only 20 percent of the overall output.

"We'll make more efforts for pure software developments," said Zeng Guozhong, vice director of the Shenzhen Software Park Management Center.

Zeng said the municipal government had shown great support for the IT and software industries, and some important local policies could be issued soon.

However, Zeng said there were still some obstacles for software development in Shenzhen, for example lack of software talent and restrictions in some policies, including taxation, import and export policies. “We hope the government can provide more supports so as to create a better software development environment in the city,” he said.

(Shenzhen Daily September 6, 2005)