South China's Guangdong Province is vowing to create a social environment encouraging and protecting independent innovation.

Huang Huahua, governor of Guangdong, reiterated the importance of independent innovation on several occasions at this year's session of the provincial people's congress, which concluded yesterday.

"The province will improve policies to encourage and support self-innovation initiatives and help the cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen turn into innovation pilot cities of the nation this year," he said when he addressed the opening of the congress last week.

And the province will redouble efforts to improve the system for technological innovations while improving measures to protect intellectual property rights (IPR), he added.

Experts said companies themselves had to take more responsibility as well.

Wang Shouren, a professor and secretary of the Shenzhen Venture Capital Association, said: "Innovation is by no means empty talk. It requires the endeavors of domestic enterprises to carry it out, as well as the efforts of the government to create a good environment ranging from policies and service systems, to IPR protection for self-innovation."

Wang spoke highly of such attempts as the first ever international expo and forum for Chinese enterprises start-up fund-raising, which will make its debut in Guangzhou from May 12-14, deeming the event timely and constructive with the whole nation striving to develop an innovation-oriented economy.

The event would set up a good platform for those who have money to match those who have innovative R&D fruits, he said.

The professor's views are strongly echoed by Mou Yongxin, managing director of Guangzhou Xiangxue Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, a private pharmaceutical company famous for its innovativeness.

"Innovation hinges heavily on R&D work, which entails major capital input," Mou said. "The problem of capital will be particularly bothersome to a high-tech start-up."

The managing director also expects the government to improve the public service system, by creating more public R&D platforms and public laboratories.

And he considered it very important for the government to reinforce IPR protection.

"Without enough IPR protection, very few enterprises, if not none, will choose to be innovative."

Fair play urged

However, a CEO of a local software company, who asked not to be identified, urged "fair play" in the domestic market, saying that many governmental departments and State-owned enterprises prefer foreign brands to domestic ones as far as high-tech products are concerned, leaving domestic high-tech companies in a very unfavorable position to survive and develop in.

In a recent interview, Professor Yang Yonghua, director of South China Normal University's national economy research institute, said that self-innovation will be a breakthrough for the upgrade of the economy in Guangdong and a possible solution to the problem of energy shortages in the province.

Yang said that the province should also make greater efforts to cultivate and secure high-caliber scientific and technological professionals and expand the scale of higher education, basing his idea on the fact that innovation needs an ample supply of well-educated professionals.

Li Xinghua, deputy director-general of the provincial science and technology department, said the province aims to develop into a regional international scientific and technological innovation center by 2020.

(China Daily February 28, 2006)