Hangzhou's famed West Lake is pictured here in winter. The city, a popular tourist destination, is also a national center for service outsourcing.

The ChinaSourcing Summit 2013, scheduled to be held from Wednesday to Friday in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, has propelled the host city into the limelight.

The summit plays an active role in integrating outsourcing resources in China and abroad, strengthening the communication and cooperation between outsourcing service providers and buyers, organizers said.

One of the 21 outsourcing demonstration cities in the country, Hangzhou has held the summit since 2010 and has benefited a lot from it in many aspects.

Through the summit, many local companies in the host city have learned about the latest developments in terms of service outsourcing and found business opportunities.

Delegates from China's leading IT service providers, demonstration cities and industrial parks are invited to attend the event, where they can find partnerships with companies from Europe, the United States, Japan, Southeast Asia and the rest of the world.

Hangzhou's outsourcing industry has gradually taken shape over the past few decades. The city focuses on outsourcing service in three major areas - research and development in telecommunications, financial service and the Internet of Things.

The Internet of Things refers to a concept of managing identifiable things with computers. Radio-frequency identification technology is often seen as a prerequisite for the Internet of Things.

And the high-end outsourcing industries such as biomedical research, industrial design, cartoon and game design are also burgeoning in the city.

Last year, companies in Hangzhou received outsourcing contracts worth more than $4.3 billion, ranking fifth among the 21 demonstration cities. Of them, offshore contracts contributed $3.5 billion.

The city now has nearly 1,000 qualified outsourcing service companies with more than 250,000 employees.

The United States, the European Union and Japan were the top three regions that outsourced services to Hangzhou in 2012.

Notably, the contract volume of the US alone accounted for more than 40 percent of the whole last year.

And a large batch of leading service companies is emerging in the city. There are more than 50 companies that each signed contracts worth more than $10 million last year.

Powered by Zhejiang University's comprehensive technological capabilities, Insigma Technology Company has become a leader in the IT services and outsourcing industry.

Also headquartered in Hangzhou, Hundsun Technology has developed into China's leading supplier of financial software and network services.

The city's two zones - Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Area and the Hangzhou High-Tech Industry Development Zone - lead the country in outsourcing service.

Hangzhou has set a goal of building itself into a leading center to take financial service outsourcing in the world and a hub for software outsourcing in the country.

In a bid to seek a development mode that is suitable for Hangzhou, senior local officials have led delegations to India, Ireland, Silicon Valley and Japan to learn from the outsourcing industries there.

A leading group was formed and a series of preferential policies have been rolled out to boost the development of the outsourcing industry.

In terms of talent introduction, the city has set up dozens of institutions to train people to meet the urgent demands of the industry.

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 07/03/2013 page6)