The State Council unveiled a series of policies last week to further stimulate growth in the software industry following a first batch issued in 2000.

The new policies cover taxes, financing, research, foreign trade, human resources, intellectual property and marketing.

Industrial software and high-end chips, as well as materials, systems and technologies used in integrated circuits, are expected to benefit most from the policies, analysts said.

The policies also encourage exports of software, circuits and information services.

As major Chinese companies involved in circuits and testing focus on overseas markets, the new policies are seen as a boost for their expansion abroad.

National award withdrawn for fraud

The Ministry of Science and Technology recently announced it has withdrawn a national technology award because of academic fraud for the first time in the annual award's history.

The revoked National Office for Science and Technology Award was granted in 2005 to a scroll compressor research program headed by former professor Li Liansheng of the School of Energy and Power Engineering at Xi'an Jiaotong University.

Li was later found to have plagiarized and fabricated data in academic papers used in the award-winning program, according to the announcement. His certificate and prize money were then recalled.

In 2007, six professors at Xi'an Jiaotong University accused Li of academic dishonesty. He was finally fired last year.

(Source: China Daily)