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Software: soul of information age
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Liu Fuzhong
THE Shenzhen Municipal Government is now drawing up plans for the city's information industry for the next few years. The software industry has received a lot of attention from the city, with authorities recently promising 500 million yuan (US$60 million) to bolster the industry's growth.
But what is it that makes software development so special for Shenzhen? With this question in mind, Shenzhen Daily interviewed Professor Li Zhiyuan, vice-director of the city's expert panel on information development and vice-secretary of the Shenzhen Software Developer Association.
Professor Li, a Berkeley-educated software specialist and national software award winner, is now chief government adviser on information development. He said that software is essential to almost all information products, making it universal to all automated or intelligent devices.
“You can buy hardware like a computer system. But you have to develop your own software to make the computer work to your needs," Li said.
“Software helps solve problems and create value for the user. That is why it is important to develop the local software industry," he said.
“With strong market demand, technological capacity and a well-educated workforce, Shenzhen is in a good position to develop software industry on a large scale," he said.
Yet as an observer and scholar, he has also noted problems with local software firms.
“First of all, all software firms in Shenzhen are small companies, which have limited capacity for large-scale research and development," he said.
According to Professor Li, the world's leading software and other IT companies including Microsoft and Cisco employ tens of thousands of people and invest heavily in research and development. However local software firms cannot afford to have long-term goals because of the pressing need to keep the company alive.
“And it is increasingly difficult for local software firms to find qualified people who can solve problems," He said. Li believes that in addition to favourable financial treatment of software firms, the local government should also create a good environment to encourage personal creativity.
“Digital industries are attractive to many young talented engineers and entrepreneurs because they can find needed capital, expertise and good rewards for innovation and hard work," he said.
Li held that local government and software firms should work together to gather strength for sustainable development and encourage innovation.
He is now drafting several proposals to the local government to upgrade Shenzhen's software industry.
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