By Cheng Long, Luo Aihua, People’s Daily
Nansha District in Guangzhou, South China’s Guangdong Province, is located at the geometric center of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA).
Close to all 11 GBA cities and five major international airports within a 100 kilometer radius, it is an important hub linking the Pearl River Estuary cluster of cities and the two special administrative regions.
Nansha District has seen its strategic position constantly improve over the past few years, from a state-level new zone to a pilot free trade zone, and now it becomes a demonstration zone for comprehensive cooperation. between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. It is an important vehicle for promoting the construction of the GBA.
In June this year, the State Council released a comprehensive plan to promote comprehensive cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao by further deepening opening up in Nansha District. The plan aims to make Nansha District a major strategic platform for global cooperation to better lead the construction of the GBA.
Under the policy support, Nansha District has experienced high-quality accelerated development.
Over the past three years, the average annual growth in the number of technology-focused small and medium-sized businesses has been 106%. More than 620 artificial intelligence and biotechnology-related companies were registered in the district during the same period.
Last year, 11 Nansha district-based companies, including Pony.ai, an autonomous vehicle technology company, were included in a list of unicorn companies with strong innovation capability released by Guangzhou.
Nansha’s technological advancements have created new opportunities for collaborative technological innovation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.
For example, supported by the Nansha sub-center of the China National Supercomputing Center in Guangzhou, the Fok Ying Tung Research Institute of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) closely links the supercomputer capacity of Guangzhou to Hong Kong’s science and technology innovation. A group led by Professor Shao Minhua from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, HKUST has developed a new type of hydrogen cell, which has set a record for battery durability.
In addition, Gan Jianping, an expert in physical oceanography, and his team launched the WavyOcean – the first 3D simulation and visualization system of ocean circulation and biogeochemical processes in China.
So far, Nansha Sub-Center of China National Supercomputing Center in Guangzhou has served more than 200 scientific research teams from Hong Kong, Macao and overseas.
Building on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong and Guangzhou-Zhuhai-Macao science and technology innovation corridors, the GBA is accelerating its steps to become a global center for science and technology innovation.
A demonstration area for comprehensive cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao is underway in Nansha district, and the permanent venue for the GBA Science Forum has started in the district.
The South Guangdong (Guangzhou) Marine Science and Engineering Laboratory has set up 16 teams of scholars, and a facility for studying cold seep ecosystems has been placed under national special planning. An industrial base aimed at manufacturing 30 carrier rockets per year is nearing completion in the district.
Thanks to its geographical advantages, the Nansha district is a gateway to opening up. It builds a major trade channel linking China and the rest of the world.
Nansha Port is one of the busiest ports in the world, with the first fully automated container terminal in China, featuring locally developed technologies. It is equipped with four berths for vessels over 100,000 tons. The port handled 17.66 million twenty-foot equivalent containers last year.
Since August, the port has opened 150 foreign trade routes reaching more than 200 port cities around the world.
On May 30 this year, the port railway launched its first freight train to Europe, continuously sending “Made in China” goods to the mainland. The new service model is expected to seamlessly connect both land and sea Silk Roads.
According to Liu Jiajun, an official of the Guangzhou Nansha Economic and Technological Development Zone, the district is currently upgrading its brands in digital trade services to build a major trade route for the GBA and cement the region’s position as a as a hub of the international supply chain.
