North China's Shanxi province recently rolled out a series of measures to accelerate the application and industrial development of the Beidou Satellite Navigation System (BDS) in the province, according to a circular released by the Shanxi Provincial Government.

The circular regulates 15 supporting measures in various fields, including the large-scale advanced application of BDS, industrialization, cultivation and expansion of market players, and support in finance, taxation and talent. 

Shanxi will promote the full application of BDS in key industries such as energy, electricity, communications, transportation, natural resources, meteorology, surveying and mapping, and agriculture.

Meanwhile, the province will speed up the popularization and application of BDS in social undertakings such as education, healthcare, housing and tourism, and establish an intelligent, convenient, accurate and efficient living service system based on BDS.

In terms of industrialization, leading domestic companies in BDS-related industries are encouraged to cooperate with Shanxi, and enterprises are welcome to invest and start businesses in the province to facilitate the extension of the BDS industrial chain.

The province will support the construction of BDS industrial parks integrating offices, scientific research, pilot trials, processing and manufacturing, typical applications and data services, and grant project investment subsidies to park leaders. 

To expand local market players in the BDS industry, Shanxi will introduce leading domestic companies to cooperate with the province at the capital level, cultivate leading companies in the industry and promote the growth of professional small and medium-sized enterprises. 

The credit line for enterprises in the industry will be increased, and credit support will be given to qualified companies, as well as major national and provincial-level BDS R&D and industrial projects. Various tax discounts will also be offered to qualified firms.

Shanxi will introduce more high-end talent and train more applied professionals in the BDS sector. Matters related to the settling of BDS professionals and teams, such as hiring, research project approval, salary and living services, will be solved promptly.

For institutions (except universities) that construct BDS-oriented internship training centers, a one-time financial reward of up to 5 million yuan ($775,246.97) will be awarded to leading operators.