Five years ago, MiMouse, a technology startup dedicated to speech recognition, settled in China Speech Valley – the US Silicon Valley-like industrial zone at Hefei, Anhui province. With comprehensive policy support from local government, the company turned creative ideas into commercial products, such as the smart mouse, and generated 40 million yuan ($5.98 million) revenue last year.

Liu Shiming, the sales director, demonstrated the mouse's abilities by talking in Chinese to the computer, and it directly transcribed his speech into English within seconds.

MiMouse is one of the more than 900 companies, such as iFLYTEK, Hikvision and Huami Information Technology, currently operating in China Speech Valley. In 2017, the Anhui government issued a blueprint to build the valley with 5 billion yuan investment, aiming to foster a world-class industrial cluster in artificial intelligence with international competitiveness.

Entrepreneurs at Speech Valley receive multi-directional policy support on procuring bank loans, recruiting talents, employee training and renting offices at low prices.

"After the company set up in 2015, we've got a special fund of 600,000 yuan to start our business, which eased the cash flow burden in the early stage," Liu said. "The valley also offered us rent-free working space, and guidance from professional experts to promote products' optimization."

"Particle Space", a tech incubator in the valley, was set up to nurture fresh ideas in artificial intelligence, which facilitated entrepreneurs to have brainstorming sessions, conduct road shows and communicate with investors.

In 2018, China Speech Valley established a manufacturing center for product design, 3D proofing, mold manufacture and debugging, further optimizing the integration of the industry chain.

"In the past, we went to factories in Shenzhen and Guangzhou for production, but now we do it locally," Liu said. "This has reduced our costs and time to a great extent."

Flagship stores on Tmall, JD and other e-commerce platforms sell diversified tech products by China Speech Valley, including wearable devices, smart robots, drones and intelligent electronic translators.

"Not only research and development, exploiting sales channels and marketing strategies is also of vital importance for a company's future," said Mao Yuanyuan, vice-president at the operation unit of China Speech Valley.

As for offline sales, four showrooms have already opened in Hefei, and 53 offline stores have been set up in Beijing, Chongqing, Zhejiang, and other regions. Although affected by the epidemic, sales in the first quarter this year still exceeded 2 million yuan.

With multiple policies enacted to better service enterprises in China Speech Valley, the industrial zone is witnessing steady growth and attracting an increasing number of startups and talents.

The valley incubated 310 startups in 2019, an increase of 114 from a year earlier, and the number of intellectual property rose 476 from that of 2018.

Besides, China Speech Valley has generated revenue of 80.1 billion yuan in 2019, increasing 24 percent year-on-year, and the number registered 45 billion yuan in the first half of this year.

"By the end of 2020, enterprises settling down in Speech Valley are expected to reach 1,000, with total output projected at 100 billion yuan," Mao Yuanyuan said.