As a major component of the international scientific and technological innovation center in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the district was urged to grow into a base for scientific and technological innovation and industrial cooperation and strengthen the cooperative tie with Hong Kong and Macao in scientific and technological innovation in the Overall Plan for Promoting Comprehensive Cooperation among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao by Further Deepening Opening-up in Nansha District of Guangzhou, a new master plan issued by the State Council in June for the district.

One of the latest efforts along this line is the signing of an agreement with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), or HKUST(GZ), which is located in the district, for synergy innovation across the board at the end of October.

Both sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in six aspects including setting up key innovation platforms, jointly solving core technology problems, and transforming and commercializing those achievements.

The district government, together with the Guangzhou city science and technology bureau, will earmark a sizable budget annually to support fundamental research and applied basic research of HKUST(GZ).

The district has also been in talks with universities and research institutes in the Greater Bay Area including HKUST, HKUST Fok Ying Tung Research Institute and Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou) to set up joint labs or research centers.

CHINA DAILY

They will focus on frontier fields of science and technology, research on advanced technologies and key generic technologies for industries, along with making contributions to high-level technological self-reliance, the district government said.

The Guangdong, Hong Kong & Macao (International) Youth Entrepreneur Hub, which is designed to house high-end research resources from Hong Kong and Macao, has secured five teams from leading universities in the Greater Bay Area, with the number expected to hit 12 by the year-end, said the district government.

Innovation platforms

In a bid to foster an outstanding regional innovation hub, the district has set up a multilayered innovation platform system called "1+1+3+N" for scientific exploration, heavyweight projects and top talents.

The first "1" refers to Nansha Science City, with the Mingzhu Science Park included. The science city, covering an area of roughly 100 square kilometers, will be the main venue for innovation development. Still under construction, it will have most of its facilities ready by 2025. The Mingzhu park, developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, will serve as the core part of the science city.

The institute for aerospace science and technology and the institute for an intelligent unmanned system will soon move into the park. The latter participated in the research on the underwater torch relay by robots, the first in Olympic history that occurred in the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games in February.