BEIJING - A delegation from China's Hubei province is expected to ink a dozen of agreements with Silicon Valley companies in San Francisco on Saturday in an attempt to boost high-tech industries in China's central region.

The team of government officials and company representatives led by Li Hongzhong, Party chief of Hubei province, is scheduled to sign 17 deals with companies and research organizations, which are mostly based in the Silicon Valley.

The move will help Hubei province to leverage the innovation and development that the Silicon Valley is famous for and bring the province's high-tech industries to the next level.

The two sides will make deals in various sectors, such as semiconductors, automotive electronics and bio-technology, which are in line with the Hubei provincial government's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) of upgrading its lower-end manufacturing industries to high-end, high-tech industries.

The largest deal, worth $500 million, is a China-US Technology Park that will be built by Huagong Technology Company, a laser equipment manufacturer based in Hubei's capital city, Wuhan, and Sino Ambassador, a Detroit-based consulting firm with a focus on China.

The technology park will be built in Wuhan's Optics Valley, which is the nickname for Wuhan East Lake High-Tech Development Zone. The zone, approved by China's State Council in 1991, was designed to cluster high-tech business, such as optoelectronics and information, bio-technology and automation.

The technology park project will focus on industries such as photoelectrons and automotive electronics and will serve as a gateway for vibrant small- and medium-sized US technology companies to enter China.

The administrative commission of Wuhan East Lake High-Tech Development Zone is also set to join hands on Saturday with Synopsys, a leading player in electronic design automation (EDA).

The Mountain View, Calif-based company plans to invest $50 million in two EDA software bases in the zone, which are expected to be completed in 2013 with an annual output value of $180 million.

The revenue of the zone reached 381 billion yuan ($60 million) last year, an increase of 30 percent year-on-year. This year's goals for the Wuhan East Lake High-Tech Development Zone is to reach 500 billion yuan in revenue, according to its official website.

Li, the Party chief of Hubei province, said that technology and higher education are the key advantages that the province holds, which will play a decisive role for the future development of Hubei.

"Wuhan's Optics Valley needs to be built into one of the world-class innovation zones, which is important for Wuhan to further grow its economy," Li said during his visit to the high-tech zone earlier this month.

In order to better develop the zone, its administrative commission will soon set up its first overseas investment promotion branch in the Silicon Valley to attract investment and talent, according to its official website.

China Daily