Motorola established a development center in China’s central Hunan province to help operators and end users develop wireless applications.

The center, which was established with backing from the Hunan provincial government, is located in Changsha, where officials hope to create a cluster of companies working on the development of telecommunications services and applications, the company said.

In recent years, the Chinese government has urged foreign companies, particularly those involved in high-technology industries, to invest more heavily in the country’s central and western regions. These areas have typically lagged behind China’s major cities and eastern coast in terms of economic development and foreign investment.

Motorola offered few specifics of the Changsha center, saying only that it would serve as a location for the company to work with its customers. Details of the level of financial backing and staffing required for the center were not disclosed.

A spokesman for the company could not immediately be reached for comment.

Over the years, Motorola has invested heavily in the creation of R&D centers and other facilities in China. In March, the company set up a wireless R&D center in Hangzhou, in China’s eastern Zhejiang province. That center, the 17th such facility to be set up by Motorola in China, will develop and test software and hardware for integration into product offerings and will do work on next-generation wireless technologies.

-Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service (Singapore Bureau)

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