Guangzhou Knowledge City lauds achievements in celebrating first decade

The China-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City in Huangpu district has become an innovation hub gathering technologies, funding and talent. CHINA DAILY

Area has been a successful bilateral venture for both China and Singapore

As the 10th anniversary celebration of the China-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City took place on Tuesday in Guangzhou, the achievements made in the national-level bilateral cooperation project were heralded.

The knowledge city project started in 2010 with the joint efforts of the Chinese and Singaporean governments.

With a planned area of 8.08 square kilometers in Huangpu district, nowadays it has grown into an innovation hub occupying 178 sq km and gathering high-end technologies, talent and funding.

Leveraging on the close partnership with Singapore and opportunities arising from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, it has grown to be a core platform of science and technology innovation, said Chen Yong, head of the Huangpu district government.

Chen noted that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Singapore.

Huangpu district is promoting the development of the knowledge city in many different ways.

The district will spare no efforts in promoting new projects, absorbing Singapore's experience involving business environment and industrial development, developing emerging technologies and trying to build the knowledge city into a world-class cooperation platform, Chen said.

To date, a total of 1,803 enterprises have registered in the area since its inception, with registered capital reaching 150.81 billion yuan ($21.35 billion) and fixed asset investment reached 142.15 billion yuan.

The first quarter's economic performance didn't show stagnation amid the COVID-19 outbreak. GDP increased by 6.3 percent year-on-year.

The actual utilization of foreign capital increased by 125 percent from January to April.

Guangzhou CanSemi Technology Inc makes up the proprietary chip industry chain in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. CHINA DAILY

Zhou Yawei, Party secretary of Huangpu district, said under the framework of the Sino-Singapore cooperation, the knowledge city drew lessons from Singapore's experience in policymaking and technical support, explored cooperation with Singapore in arbitration mechanism and intellectual property protection, and took the lead in building up the business environment.

A representative project of the platform, the "knowledge tower" project, was started.

The central area of the knowledge city was planned with an innovation town for scientific research and education.

Covering an area of 2 sq km, it aims to introduce 13 scientific research institutes, to become the hub for high-end talent cultivation, universities' scientific and technological research and development and pool of higher education resources.

A number of scientific research institutes such as Guangzhou research institute and graduate school of Xidian University, and Huangpu research institutes and graduate schools of Guangzhou University and Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. The enrollment of the first batch of graduate students exceeded 1,100.

The local administration also announced the construction of the China Nano Valley and Jiulong Lake economic belt last year. With 79 enterprises projects to be drawn, total investment reached nearly 170 billion yuan and an output value will exceed 300 billion yuan after their completion.

The knowledge city also geared up the construction of healthcare industry.

BeiGene, like other high-profile biomedical projects in the area, has given full play to the industrial agglomeration effect, which drives more than 30 biomedical projects to be landed in the knowledge city, with a total investment of 20 billion yuan and an estimated revenue nearly 100 billion yuan.

Guangzhou CanSemi Technology, a landmark project for the knowledge city, owns the only 12-inch wafer production line in Guangdong province.

After its establishment in 2017, about 80 enterprises engaged in the integrated circuit industry came to inspect its factory.

In its next step, the knowledge city will introduce more high-end scientific and technological innovation projects such as the Innovation Research Institute of National University of Singapore.

The 10th anniversary ceremony also included the launch of the Knowledge City International Science and Technology Center.

Taking the Siemens Crystal Future City Exhibition Center in London as inspiration, the center, with a total construction area of about 5,000 sq m, is a comprehensive center for exhibitions, conferences, academic forums and talent training.

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