Introduction of China Software Industry Association China Software Industry Association (CSIA) was founded on September 6, 1984. It was voluntarily formed by enterprises and individuals engaged in software research and development, publication, sales and training, in research and development of information systems and information service providing, and in the consultancy, market survey, investing, financing and other related agent services for software industry. Registered in the Ministry of Civil Administration and with a nationwide first-class corporate legal person qualification, CSIA is the unique representative of China software industry.  I.     The Aims of  CSIA under New Circumstances With the fast development and extensive application of information technology, information industry has already become a strong dynamic hauling force for national economic growth and is becoming a backbone industry in national economic development. As the kernel and soul of the information industry, software has penetrated into nearly every aspect of the national economy and has caused profound changes in enhancing efficiency for industries of manufacturing, agriculture, services and social management. As a result, software and information service industry has become the most important and strategic industry of the world. Chinese government recognizes the importance of its software industry and has created a favorable policy environment for its development. Policies for Encouraging the Development of Software Industry and IC Industry (hereafter referred to as the "No.18 Document") issued by the State Council in June 2000 is an important policy guarantee for the development of China Software Industry. Under new circumstances, CSIA is determined to promote the healthy development of software industry through market surveys, information exchanges, consultancy evaluations, industry self-discipline, intellectual property right protection, qualification certifications and policy studies. CSIA will strive to strengthen cooperation and communication of software enterprises, accelerate the construction of IT infrastructure, and promote the development of software and its commodities. CSIA will enhance corporate governance in software enterprises and facilitate them to form groups. CSIA will also explore the domestic and overseas software markets to help develop the national software industry. Abiding by the constitution, laws and regulations as well as the social ethics, CSIA will try to serve as a bridge between government and enterprises by all means so as to serve our members well. With the authorization of the government department in charge, and based on the principles of openness, fairness and impartiality, CSIA takes the responsibility of authentication of software enterprises and software products and other management functions. II.    The Recent Development of CSIA In the "No.18 Document" by the State Council, it is clearly stated that, "The department in charge of information industry shall bring into full play the functions of Software Industry Association  in aspects of market surveys, information exchanges, consultancy evaluations, industry self-discipline, intellectual property right protection, qualification certifications, and policy studies so as to promote the healthy development of software industry." This clearly indicates the missions as well as the working direction of CSIA. With guidance and support from the government departments in charge such as the Ministry of Information Industry, and with coordination of software enterprises, CSIA has brought into full play its function of being a bridge between the government and the enterprises. With sincerity and innovation, CSIA has gained recognition from government departments, enterprises as well as the society. High prestige also comes along within the software industry. Through international exchanges, CSIA has established profound and extensive cooperation relationships with many similar international industrial associations and organizations. Up to now, CSIA has nearly 700 affiliated members. Plus the corporate members of the branch associations, the total number of CSIA corporate members, mainly software enterprises,  exceed 3,000. Besides some research institutes, colleges and universities, most of the enterprises that are among the top 100 software and information service enterprises are CSIA corporate members. There are a number of branch associations under CSIA. The total number of branch associations that have been approved and registered in the Ministry of Civil Administration is over twenty. These branch associations carry out their activities in certain fields of the industry, thus are an important supplement to CSIA in expanding influence and functionalities. After the issue of "No.18 Document", 46 local software industry associations have been established in different provinces and municipalities. They are all corporate members of CSIA that operate under CSIA's guidance, particularly in implementing "No. 18 Document" policies. CSIA has also established an Advisory Committee, a consultancy and brainpower institution, which consists of senior professionals, famous experts and highly reputed personnel who have made outstanding contributions to the industry. CSIA has also established a CSIA Experts Committee. CSIA keeps the contact with numerous experts and scholars of various industries throughout the country who are knowledgeable and influential in the local software and IT infrastructure construction. Many of them are decision-makers who are valuable treasures to the industry as well as to CSIA. The Experts Committee has done much work for the "Excellent Software Products Recommending Activity" (hereafter referred to as "Recommending Activity") and for authentication and evaluation of software products. Besides, their keeping track of the newest development of technology guarantees the authority of the "Recommending Activity". III.  Main Tasks of CSIA i.     Study, Publicize and Implement "No.18 Document" Issued by the State Council The "No.18 Document" issued by the State Council, which provides many favorable policies, is an important milestone in the history of China software industry. Piloted by the department in charge, CSIA has done much concrete and detailed work in its effort to publicize the "No.18 Document" and the two supplement regulations formulated by the Ministry of Information Industry. ii.    Software Enterprises and Software Products Authentication According to the No.18 Document and the two supplement regulations, CSIA has carried out authentication work for the enterprises that have reached a certain scale in the volume of registered capital, annual income and export. Meanwhile, in Article 10 of Authentication Standards and Management Measures of Software Enterprise (Trial Version), CSIA, consigned by the Ministry of Information Industry, guides, supervises and examines the authentication operation of local institutions. CSIA has established an extensive relationship with the local authentication institutions that the software enterprise and software product authentication have maintained a good momentum for healthy development. iii.    Sponsor the "China International Software Exhibition and Technology Forum" "China International Software Exhibition and Technical Forum" (hereafter referred to as INT'L SOFT CHINA) is the highest-standard and the largest-scale professional software exhibition in China and is the only nationwide exhibition for China software industry. INT'L SOFT CHINA has become a good platform for government, software enterprises and customers to talk, exhibit and communicate. It has done an excellent job in facilitating international exchanges, foreign and domestic markets explorations, and government, enterprises and customer cooperation. It also advocates the importance of software industry in the national economy. The INT'L SOFT CHINA organizes enterprises to participate, who have products with their own intellectual property rights. It also exhibits many excellent-products-of-the-year elected by experts. The exhibition not only provides an opportunity for domestic software companies to display their overall strength and to advocate their images but also provides an opportunity for customers to choose products or gather products information. INT'L SOFT CHINA has made exchanges and cooperation possible, particularly for some Chinese software enterprises to communicate face to face with foreign enterprises. Many domestic software enterprises have obtained orders of products, contracts and intentions of technology cooperation or transfer from the INT'L SOFT CHINA, thus acquired a good foundation for entering the global market. Participation of software enterprises and software parks allows the government to know more about the strength of software parks and software enterprises. It provides the government with good referential information in formulating software industry policies and in planning the arrangements for software industry. iv.       Recommending Excellent Software Products, Cultivating Excellent Software Brands Since 1994, CSIA has been working on "Recommending Activities". The purposes of this activity are to cultivate and set up excellent software products brands in China, to help explore domestic and international markets and in short, to promote the fast and healthy development of China software industry. CSIA has regarded such activities as bridges connecting software enterprises with their customers. Past experience shows that "Recommending Activities" is an important measure for establishing brand names and enlarging market share and has become more and more recognized. v.    China Software Industry Development Research Report Since 1998, CSIA has carried out surveys on software market and started to compile China Software Industry Development Research Report. The content of the report covers various aspects such as software industry environment, products and markets analyses, software industry base construction, venture capital, software industry outlook, and listed enterprises analyses, etc. It also covers system software, middle-ware, embedded software, database software, finance and enterprise management software and other application software. The fields covered are becoming wider than ever.  The Research Reports are mainly presented as a reference to leaders of related government departments to formulate policies or take macroscopic control and adjustment. It can also be used by IT enterprises to help them make decisions basing on their market performance. Moreover, it provides a baseline for venture capital, enterprise procurements or mergers to reasonably choose partners. The Research Reports have been well received by related government departments, enterprises, venture capital and people of the industry. It has become a "white book" with the most comprehensive viewpoints and the richest data. vi.   China Software Industry - On Its Way to the World through International Exchanges and Cooperation After China's accession to WTO, the software industry will be more involved in the international environment and de facto become part of the international software industry. "To let China software go to the world" has become an earnest wish of China software enterprises. "No.18 Document" indicates that "after 5-10 years of efforts, software products with independent copyrights will meet the majority needs of the domestic markets and achieve large quantity of export." The policy planning in the "10th Five-Year-Plan" requires that in year 2005, the volume of software export to reach USD 2 billion. To fulfill this, China's software enterprises need to learn the advanced software experience from the developed countries and try to expand its software export. Therefore, CSIA took part in various technology exchanges and products exhibitions in countries like the US, Japan, UK, France, Korea, Singapore, Denmark, Canada, India, Thailand and regions like Taiwan and Hong Kong, in an effort to have more software products export and better cooperation between domestic and overseas software enterprises. vii.   Missions Assigned by the Government in Formulating the Software Industry Development Plans In the making of development strategy of China software industry, CSIA regularly organizes symposia for its corporate members, software enterprises and professionals. Proposals were made to the government departments as reference for software industry planning. viii.  Organizing Seminars and Trainings, Serving the Enterprises and the Industry In order to serve the software enterprises and the industry, CSIA has organized various workshops, seminars and symposia on topics of common concern and joint interest, in which government officials, experts and scholars and representatives from enterprises and institutions were invited to contribute discussions and viewpoints. Many software enterprises are in their initial stages so that they need large sum of capital for start-up and growth. In 1999, CSIA launched "The Annual Conference on Investing and Financing for China Software Industry". The Annual Conference has provided a good chance for software enterprises to get access to investment capital. ix.    Our Website: "Windows of China Software" Our website "Windows of China Software" (www.csia.org.cn) is one of the earliest Internet websites among electronics industry associations. Its main purpose is to provide information on China software industry and to make it well known and better understood by oversea industries. After several years of development, "Windows of China Software" has helped many foreign institutions know the situation of China software industry. By visiting the website, some made up their minds for further cooperation. A large amount of email was sent from foreign countries to CSIA expressing their intentions to cooperate. Through Internet, CSIA has established connections with software professionals in countries such as India, Thailand, the US, Germany, France and England. x.    Our Magazine: Software Industry Software Industry is a monthly CSIA internal publication that reports the newest trends of domestic and overseas software industry development. An editor from CSIA has been designated for its publication. The magazine has made great progress in both contents and column arrangements and is well received by the readers who believe it to be valuable and worth referencing. xi.    Stipulating Rules and Regulations for China Software Industry and Creating a Fair Play Environment Branch and local associations established rules, regulations and industry standards according to their own specialties. For instance, the "Finance and Enterprise Management Software Branch Association" formulated in 1996 the Industry Regulations and Service Convention, and the interface standard of finance software in 1997, which had been given great attention by former leaders of the Ministry of Electronics Industry. In the Third Nationwide Plenary Session of CSIA, which was held in April 1998, the "China Software Industry Primary Convention" was passed. With China's formal accession into WTO, CSIA has discussed and modified the Convention many times and it was formally promulgated on 26th, June 2002. The successive formulation of rules, regulations and industry standards has helped create a fair play environment for China software industry. xii.   Establishing Non-governmental Software Exports Coordinating Institution to Boost Software Exports Software export is important in boosting the overall development of software industry, in making profit for the nation and enterprises and in educating talents. Typically, the increase in software export will result in the increase of the nation's GDP. However, at present, China is lagging far behind nationwide export federations to fully utilize the comparative advantages of China in aspects of rich human resources and lower cost. On the meeting of "China Software Industry Export Work Symposia and the Preparation Meeting of China Software Export Federation", which was held in late 2001, the infrastructure of China Software Export Federation has been determined. With the support and help from the government, enterprises shall bravely go abroad and explore the oversea markets. In the future, CSIA will, by all means, continue to support the export of China's software. xiii.  Organizing the Activity of "Choosing Excellent Software Talents" In year 2000, coordinating with CCYL and MII, CSIA had carried out an activity of "Electing Excellent Software Talents". In year 2001 CSIA publication Software World carried out an activity of "Electing the Ten Leading Figures of China Software Enterprises". All these activities have played an important role in promoting the growth of the young software talents of China. xiv.  Enhancing Organization Construction and Fitting in with the Development of Situation and Pushing forward the Service Scope To serve for the government and enterprises is the paramount aim of CSIA. At present, CSIA has set up 6 committees and 20 branches. The Secretariat consists of one office and 8 mission departments. CSIA will make great efforts to do more practical work, to serve well for the government, membership and enterprises, with sincere attitude and inspiration, attaching importance to investigation, conducting various activities in accordance with national laws, regulations and policy and maintaining legal rights of membership and enterprises in an effort to make CSIA the centers of economic information, policy research management guidance, professionals training and technology and experience exchange.