独墅湖，又称渎墅湖，位于苏州工业园区南部，北通金鸡湖，南连吴淞江。水面开阔，足有十平方公里。清《元和县志》说，此湖是舟旅畏途，“每遭风波几至断渡，东南最险处也”。因此古代世乱之时，湖畔就成避秦之地。清尤侗有诗曰：“江关鼙鼓压城闾，水竹村南问卜居。十里镜湖非诏赐，数间草屋即吾庐。”

　　这位老名士不会想到，今日独墅湖畔已非寂寂荒村，而是桃李盛开之乡，十所高等院校在此次第屹立，它们是中国科学技术大学苏州研究院、南京大学苏州研究生院、苏州大学独墅湖校区、西安交通大学苏州研究院、西安交大与英国利物浦大学联办大学、人民大学国际学院、东南大学苏州研究院、四川大学苏州研究院、武汉大学苏州研究院和苏州港大思培科技职业学院，莘莘学子今有三四万人。独墅湖的波澜，沾满了弦歌书香。

　　这里还有研发产业区，它位于星湖街东、科教创新区中南部。其中创意产业园的建筑面积约七十四万平方米，它是软件开发、动漫游戏和集成电路等产业的基地;生物纳米园的建筑面积约百万平方米，已有二十家创新生物科与纳米技术研发单位进驻。园区还启动建设了生物技术公共实验中心、纳米研发测试与工程化技术中心等服务平台，为苏州科技的发展生出了振翅高翔的飞翼。

　　谁说独墅湖波澜不惊?它是苏州工业园区科技创新的制高点。苏州未来的辉煌交响乐，就在独墅湖边，按响了欢快的序曲。

　　[朱红撰文]

　　Situated in the south of the SIP, the Dushu Lake links the Golden Rooster Lake and the Wusong River. It covers 10 square kilometers. According to Yuanhe Annals of the Qing Dynasty, it was “ an extremely dangerous stretch of waters in case of strong gales”. So its southeastern bank became a hardly accessible shelter for people to steer clear of social chaos. You Tong, a poet of the Qing Dynasty, once chanted, “When the citadels and forts of the city were being attacked, I was asked on the lakeside about my residence. The vast mirror-like lake is not a royal bestowment, and the thatched shelter nearby is my beloved abode. ”

　　The poet would never expect the bleak lakeside village to have become a land of promise for academics, where there stand 10 institutions of higher learning, including the graduate school of Nanjing University, the Dushu Lake campus of Soochow University, the United Institute of Liverpool University and Xi’an Jiaotong University. With nearly 40,000 students here, the lake ripples with academic aura.

　　There is also an R&D zone here. In it, the Creative Industrial park, covering 0.74 million square meters, is a base for software development, animation games making and IC production; the Bio-Nanometer Park, totaling one million square meters, has 20 pioneering bio-tech or nano-tech companies. It also initiated a technology service network, including a public experiment center for bio-technology, an R&D and test center for nano-technology, and an engineering technology center, which combined will contribute to the technological development of Suzhou.

　　Tranquility aside, the lake also roars with drives and aspirations. It is a new pull of the SIP’s technological innovation. Listen! The brilliant orchestra of Suzhou’s future is beginning right here.

　　[Zhu Hong]