In March 2016, the Chengdu high-tech zone signed an agreement with the city's Shuangliu district government to build an international biotech industrial park.

Planned to cover a total area of 44 sq km, the park will mainly focus on biomedicine, biomedical engineering and other healthcare industries. It is expected to accommodate over 30,000 companies by 2035, with combined output value reaching 500 billion yuan ($72.53 billion).

Last year, the park attracted two research institutes that are named after two Nobel laureates: John Michael Bishop and Karl Barry Sharpless. Bishop won the 1989 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, and Sharpless was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2001.

haonan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 03/09/2017 page18)