German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG yesterday launched a new research
facility in China as part of its intensifying research and development (R&D)
activities in the country.
The facility, known as Siemens China Corporate
Technology, will be one of Siemens' two largest research bases outside its home
country, underlining the growing role that China is playing in terms of the
company's research work.
Siemens will invest 800 million yuan (US$101
million) in the Beijing-based research facility over the coming three to five
years to expand its size and research capabilities, according to Arding Hsu,
head of Siemens China Corporate Technology.
Meanwhile, the 200-strong
facility plans to recruit 100 additional researchers by 2008.
The launch
of the new facility is part of a trend in which multinationals, having long
regarded China as a manufacturing base and a huge market, are increasingly
transferring their R&D activities to the country.
Siemens, which is
famous for its innovations, already operates 16 R&D and software centres in
China, covering all of its business areas such as automatic control, power,
healthcare and lighting.
Siemens China Corporate Technology will focus
on "developing sustainable innovations for sustainable profit in the
fast-changing world," said Hsu.
Siemens has identified many "mega
trends," such as urbanization and demographic change, which offer major
challenges in terms of infrastructure, healthcare and shaping tomorrow's
market.
The newly launched China research facility will focus on research
fields such as energy, environment, automation, public/private infrastructure
and healthcare, all of which are essential to solving challenges posed by
urbanization and an ageing population.
Technology giants such as IBM and
Microsoft have also established research institutes in China, as well as various
R&D centres focusing on product development.
Such research institutes
largely focus on developing future technologies and basic research, underlining
that China is becoming a new hotbed of advanced technological research for
global technology companies.
Last year, Siemens filed for more than 1,000
patents in China, becoming one of the multinationals with the largest number of
patent filings in the country.
According to a report by the World
Intellectual Property Organization, a United Nations agency, patent filing in
China has increased sevenfold over the past 10 years. In 2004, half of the
filings were by foreign companies.
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