The 2018 China Cybersecurity Week was held in Chengdu on September 17-23. Nearly 700 representatives from Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, Qihoo 360, China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom, China UnionPay, China Construction Bank, National Industrial Information Security Development Research Center and other cybersecurity enterprises and institutions, attended the event.
The Cybersecurity Expo and Cybersecurity Technology Summit were held successively. According to Tang Xin, an official of the Office of Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, the Expo has seven exhibition halls, covering 22,000 square meters, and has attracted about 100 institutions, exceeding all previous expos.
It goes without saying that the cybersecurity is important to a country. Why the western city Chengdu is selected to hold this significant event?
Chengdu wins the bid to hold the event because it has profound scientific and research capability. Firstly, Chengdu has a complete cybersecurity ecology chain. Chengdu is home to 164 national cybersecurity enterprises led by Westone Information Industry INC., China’s first listed company in the cybersecurity field, is also in Chengdu. Currently, Chengdu has built a cyberspace security industry chain covering “algorithm – chip – software – platform product – complete machine – cybersecurity system and overall solution – cybersecurity service”. In 2017, 38 top 50 national cybersecurity companies selected by the domestic authoritative cybersecurity media, AQNiu, settled down in Chengdu. Of the latest defined 61 areas of the cybersecurity industry, Chengdu covers 53 product lines, boasting 87% coverage.
As the first batch of “renowned software cities in China” and the only software city in western China, Chengdu is home to six world’s top 10 software companies (including Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, SPRO, Symantec, and Dell EMC). In addition, Chengdu is one of the three major national cybersecurity industrialization bases, leading China’s cybersecurity industry. On December 6, 2017, the “China Electronic Cybersecurity and Information Innovation Project”, jointly developed by Chengdu and the China Electronics Cyberspace Great Wall Co., Ltd under China Electronics Corporation, won the first prize of the National Science and Technology Award. This is also the only information security project that has ever won this award.
In 2017, 24 top 50 cybersecurity enterprises in China settled down in Chengdu. Six top 10 national innovative enterprises and five top 10 enterprises with the highest growth rate, are based in Chengdu. The rapid convergence of information and cybersecurity enterprises results in industrial clusters. Chengdu’s information and cybersecurity industry has been established, with the South Park of the High-tech Zone, Direct-managed District of the Tianfu New District, and Shuangliu District as the main gathering area and core development area, and with Wuhou District and Jinjiang District as the collaboration force for the “1+2” space layout. It aims to foster a multi-area and full-coverage gathering center for information and cybersecurity industries.
It is worth mentioning that Chengdu is a pool of China’s cybersecurity talents. Sichuan University, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu University of Information Technology and other research institutes with information and cybersecurity disciplines have formed a complete talent delivery system on information and cybersecurity, covering doctoral, master’s and bachelor’s degrees. Chengdu boasts 40,000 employees in information and cybersecurity industry, more than 8,000 certified personnel, and a number of well-known national technical teams with experiences in this industry.
At present, the local government has clearly stated that Chengdu aims to build itself into an information and cybersecurity city in China. Therefore, it will focus on its three advantages of technological innovation, industrial ecology, and service application, make a breakthrough in building the talent highland and improving the brand effect, and speed up the construction of a leading domestic and international renowned information and cybersecurity city.
Source: The Organizing Committee of the 2018 China Cybersecurity Week
