Shenzhen’s Three Core Nodes Store Energy For GBA’s Science and Technology Innovation Corridor

In World Intellectual Property Organization’s 2021 Global Innovation Index Report, Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou was ranked second among the new Science and Technology clusters. Such success can be attributed to the formation of three well-planned “innovation nodes” in Shenzhen.

As highlighted in the Outline Development Plan of the Greater Bay Area in 2019, the Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Corridor (‘STIC’) is to be formed. Shenzhen, being one of the first special economic zones in China, has been playing an active role, with the construction of three key innovation nodes, namely Guangming Science City, Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone (‘Qianhai’), and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Cooperation Zone for Technology and Innovation (‘SZ-HK Cooperation Zone’). They are all differently positioned to complement each other’s development.

Following the approval of its master plan in April, the Guangming Science City is poised to become the “core engine” of the tech-driven city’s basic scientific research effort; meanwhile, as a major cooperation platform within GBA, Qianhai focuses on the modern service industry, presenting unlimited opportunities for professionals in Hong Kong.

Among the three nodes, the SZ-HK Cooperation Zone is the most ambitious, aiming to form a cross-border, co-managed innovation cooperation platform comprising two technology parks, one in Shenzhen and the other in Hong Kong’s Lok Ma Chau loop area. In early 2021, the Hong Kong’s legislature approved a funding of HK$ 18.1 billion for the start of the tech park's Batch 1 development on the city’s side. In April, the Chinese government also set aside a special fund budget for investing in Mainland projects that have “prominent Hong Kong and Macao’s elements”.

Another driver of success for these innovation nodes is governments’ preferential policies. Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub offers plenty of resources to young entrepreneurs hoping to set up offices in Qianhai; the e-service station of the SH-HK Cooperation Zone opened in 2021 as a one-stop customs and administrative service centre, facilitating cross-border business services in simplified procedures. Additionally, there are eight innovation and entrepreneurship bases in the Cooperation Zone, two of which were recently established to accommodate as many as 1500 young researchers and entrepreneurs from Hong Kong.

All these measures are turning GBA into an energetic, attractive startup ecosystem, with more support underway to foster technology and product commercialisation. There is hardly any reason why STIC does not have a bright future in the coming years.