Beijing is the largest scientific research base and education center of China.  There are 3,847 local research entities and among which 360 are scientific research institutes.  People employed by research entities totaled 257,000 and about 209,000 people are scientists and researchers with college degrees or middle-level professional qualifications. 

By the end of 2002, Beijing has a total of 53 incubators and 1,115 incubating enterprises.  In 2002, the number of registered technology contracts reached 27,038.  Contract volume for technology transfer and cooperation achieved 22.11 billion Yuan (approximately 2.66 billion U.S. dollars).  Of all the contracted volume, about 18.1 billion Yuan (nearly 2.18 billion U.S. dollars) are related to technology transfer projects.

In 2002, Beijing also saw the initial establishment of manufacturing bases for software industry, micro-electronics industry, biochemical industry and new materials.  By the end of 2002, certified software enterprises totaled 1,000 and accumulated registered software products reached 3,605.  Nearly 70% of the locally developed software products were given born in Beijing.