The China Beidou Industrial Technology Innovation West Hongqiao Base is located in the Shanghai Hongqiao International Central Business District. [Photo/WeChat account: hongqiaoshangwuqu]
The rapid growth of China's self-constructed and independently operated Beidou satellite navigation system has given birth to a number of unicorn start-ups, which have developed geographic information services popular in the global market, according to the China Beidou Industrial Technology Innovation West Hongqiao Base, which serves as an incubator of such start-ups.
Beidou, also known as China's Comprehensive Satellite Navigation System, has become an important new piece of infrastructure that provides consistent, non-stop, high-precision positioning, navigation and timing services to global users.
It is sold in more than 100 countries and regions, and is widely used in transportation, marine fishing, hydrological monitoring, surveying and mapping geographic information, communication systems, power dispatching, forest fire prevention, and disaster relief and mitigation.
Fang Shu, chief operating officer of the Beidou West Hongqiao Base in the Shanghai Hongqiao International Central Business District, said that before the advent of the Beidou satellite navigation system, foreign manufacturers such as Leica, Tianbao, Topcon and other satellite navigation surveying and mapping instrument brands quickly seized the global market with their wealth of experience and technological monopolies.
With the continuous maturing of the Beidou system, geographic information service exports from the Beidou West Hongqiao Base have ushered in a period of rapid development, Fang said. In 2022, the base's tax revenue increased by 20.98 percent year-on-year. Exports of corporate geographic information reached $74.42 million, a year-on-year increase of 90 percent. From January to June 2023, the base's overall tax revenue increased by 88.8 percent year-on-year.
CTI Navigation is the leading enterprise in the field of Beidou navigation. In the first half of the year, the company achieved operating income of 1.21 billion yuan ($165.72 million) and net profits of 176 million yuan. Both revenue and net profits increased by more than 30 percent year-on-year.
Lianshi, another "unicorn" at the Beidou West Hongqiao Base, has seen its core product, the Beidou Agricultural Machinery Automatic Driving System, be widely used in more than 50 countries and regions around the world. The company has also promoted the construction of dozens of unmanned smart farms in China.
Shangyuan Communication, another enterprise based at the Beidou West Hongqiao Base, has been deeply involved in antennas for more than 10 years. From the research, development and design of mobile phone antennas to serving global Internet of Things companies, the company's customized and varied antenna services are available in Germany, the United States, France and other countries.
SingularXYZ, which entered the base in October 2021, provides high-precision location services for various horizontal and vertical industries such as geospatial information, precision agriculture, machinery control, robotics, telecommunications and IoT in more than 70 countries and regions, according to the company's founder Ren Yinqing.
"We are full of confidence for the future and strive to expand into more than 100 countries and regions in the near future," Ren said.
According to Fang, in 2022 the Beidou West Hongqiao Base started comprehensively laying out the Beidou industrial economic belt centered on Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta, so as to promote the linkage and expand the influence of the Beidou industry in the Yangtze River Delta.
