Guangzhou ranks 25th among the top 50 research cities in the world, according to the British scientific journal Nature. This year, Guangzhou is making a name for itself as a competitive city of scientific and technological innovation.

In 2018, the city made a lot breakthroughs in science and technology. For instance, it saw an addition of more than 3,000 high-tech enterprises, the total number now exceeding 11,000, ranking third in the country.

According to statistics, the city's technical contract turnover increased from 35.7 billion yuan in 2017 to 71.9 billion yuan in 2018. There are now over 200,000 high technology companies and 20 national key laboratories located here.

Guangzhou Science City. [File Photo]

Based on the principles of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macao Sci-tech Innovation Corridor (Guangzhou Section), the city has encouraged the development of key innovation platforms including the Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City, Guangzhou Science City and HKUST Fok Ying Tung Research Institute.

Besides, the city has worked to promote the integration of technology and finance. The government set up a fund of 5 billion yuan to bring cutting edge tech into production. 8 banks have issued loans of nearly 10 billion yuan to 1,300 technology-based SMEs.

The construction of International Sci-tech Innovation Center is one of the important goals referred in the development outline of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

This year, Guangzhou will keep developing the innovation corridor, working in parallel with Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macao, said Zhan Decun, deputy director of the Guangzhou Science and Technology Bureau. Cooperation will be boosted in the fields of technological research, innovation platform construction, and talent introduction.

Recent discussion suggests an industrial cooperation zone between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao is likely to be built in Nansha. Universities, hospitals, scientific research institutions from Hong Kong, Macao are encouraged to co-build innovation platforms in Guangzhou.

As regards international cooperation, the city aims to partner with with more developed countries and cities along the Belt and Road in scientific research, personnel exchange and platform construction. It welcomes world-class universities, research institutions and companies to set up R&D centers in the GBA.

Key areas like information technology, artificial intelligence, biomedicine and health care, new materials, new energy, and marine economy, a number of cutting-edge technologies are all focus points.

The city proposes to see the total number of tech companies grow to more than a quarter of million in the following year.

Reported by Will

Edited by Simon