On January 30, Suzhou Industrial Park held a joint ground-breaking and opening ceremony for 24 new projects and unveiled the plaque for Jiangsu Province (Suzhou) Nano-Tech Institute at Nanopolis Suzhou.

Deputy Director Xue Xiaoping of Jiangsu Provincial Science and Technology Department and Secretary Ma Minglong of SIP CPC Working Committee unveiled the plaque for Jiangsu (Suzhou) Nano-Tech Institute, a key S&T platform jointly launched by SIP and SINANO (Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics) and contracted to Suzhou Nano-Tech Development. Its mission is to focus on micro-nano manufacturing engineering, especially the R&D of universal technologies and standard processes in the fields of nano mechanical-electrics and photo-electronics. By centering on pilot lines, the Institute will offer strong support for technological commercialization and project incubation, as well as provide extensive services of talent training, quality control, safety assessment, and intellectual property right protection.

The 24 projects including Innovent Biologics, Suzhou Institute of Nano Materials at Nanjing University of Technology, and the gaming R&D and operation base of Renren.com took part in the joint opening and ground-breaking ceremony. Most of the projects are listed in the key rising sectors by local authorities and engaged in nano-tech, new energy, bio-med, converged communications, software, animation and gaming.

These projects brought a total of ten billion yuan of investment and one million square meters of construction area to SIP. Local authorities expect 100 new projects to break ground and another 100 to open for business in 2012, whose total investment will amount to 50 billion yuan and contribute to the 35 billion yuan hi-tech industrial output value and the 30 billion yuan output in rising industries.

Secretary Ma pointed out in his speech that after 18 years' continuous development, SIP had now entered a new stage of "boosting new industries, building new city, and gathering new talents". The focus of the government in 2012 is to promote modern business in CBD area and strategic rising sectors centering on nano-tech. The local leader said that he was glad to see that most of the projects initiated on the first day after Chinese New Year holiday were in line with the plan and that this was a good start for the Year of the Dragon.