Microsoft China has announced that it has signed a three-year strategic cooperation memorandum with the Hangzhou municipal government and the company will set up its first cloud computer center in Hangzhou.

The two sides will cooperate to improve the innovative capacity of local software companies, further improve the local environment for intellectual property rights protection, and build Hangzhou as a model city for innovation and intellectual property rights protection. Hangzhou is about a two-hour train ride away from Shanghai.

Apart from the establishment of the cloud computer center, the memorandum also includes the Microsoft (Hangzhou) Center, which aims to promote the use of the latest technologies, to foster strategic projects based on the memorandum; and promote the upgrading of Microsoft's existing technology center.

At the same time, the Hangzhou government promises to reinforce its protection of intellectual property rights and encourage government departments, enterprises, and individual consumers to use authentic software. The city will cooperate with Microsoft to raise the usage rate of authentic software in enterprises and schools and purify the sales environment of computer and electronics retail stores to reduce the use of fake and pirated software.