Guangzhou steps up efforts to foster new growth drivers
By Luo Aihua, People’s Daily
Self-driving startup Pony.ai
in Nansha district of south China’s Guangzhou city became the first company of
the kind to nab licenses to test autonomous vehicles carrying passengers on
Beijing’s roads on May 14.
The company marks an effort of Guangzhou in accelerating the
digital economy and cultivating new growth drivers in recent years.
The increasing investment in the city against headwinds is
further injecting impetus to its economic development.
On Longxue Island of Nansha district, more than 10
excavators are working at the construction site of the fourth phase of Nansha
Port. With a total investment of over 20 billion yuan ($2.8 billion), the
project is under intensive construction.
The port, projected to be completed and begin operation in
2021, is expected to lift the annual container throughput of Nansha Port to more
than 22 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). It aims to become a sea passage
for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to fully integrate into the
construction of the Belt and Road.
Since this year, Guangzhou has regarded
the construction of major projects as a focal point of its efforts and
constantly fostered new growth drivers. The city has arranged 1,642 major
projects this year with a total investment of 479.8 billion yuan. In the
January-April period, 139.6 billion yuan of investment has been completed.
The city has achieved high-quality development while hedging
against the negative impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. Statistics show that
517 new projects were under negotiation in the city in the first quarter, and
six contracts of intent were inked with a value of more than 10 billion yuan.
The figures represent growth of investment against downward pressure from
COVID-19.
Planning to invest nearly 1.4 trillion yuan in Guangzhou,
global enterprises have showed their confidence in the city, a place where a
bunch of major projects have been signed, kicked off, put
into operation and planned.
The vigorous development of strategic emerging industries
has become a unique advantage of Guangzhou. Within 48 hours, the nucleic acid
testing kit developed by Guangzhou Hybribio Medical Laboratory Ltd. was issued
a CE certification from the European Union; within two weeks, Guangzhou
Pharmaceutical Holdings Limited resumed production of chloroquine phosphate,
which was included in the seventh version of the diagnosis and treatment plan
for the novel coronavirus.
Prior to that, the city proactively took policy measures to
propel development of all respects of the strategic emerging
industries. The bioengineering and pharmaceutical industry was the first to
establish a complete industrial chain covering research and development, clinical
trial, commercialization, manufacturing, application and marketing of products.
The “Guangzhou speed”
demonstrated by the bio-pharmaceutical enterprises in the pandemic has highlighted
the strength of the city in building a complete bioengineering and pharmaceutical
industry. In 2019, the added value of the city’s strategic emerging industries
was up 7.5 percent on a yearly basis.
Guangzhou is also a pacemaker in 5G technology. 5G smart
lamp poles have become a common scene in Yuexiu district, a center of traditional
Cantonese culture, the business area in Tianhe district, and the eco-design
town in Conghua district. The city has built more than 20,000 5G base stations,
and is emerging as a top-notch pilot city for 5G commercialization
and a demonstration city for comprehensive information consumption.
Guangzhou is striving to build itself into an innovation
center for digital economy. On May 8, 73 digital new infrastructure
projects were inaugurated in the city with a total investment of 180
billion yuan, including information projects such as 5G technology, Alibaba
Cloud, the cloud computing arm of China’s internet giant Alibaba, and
Industrial Internet; integrative programs such as 5G smart ports and building
information management (BIM) +smart cities; and innovation projects such as the
ecological innovation center of Chinese technology firm Huawei, and the Apollo
Intelligent Driving Ecosystem of Chinese tech giant Baidu.
The projects include information projects represented by 5G
technology, Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of
China’s internet giant Alibaba, and Industrial Internet, integrative programs
such as 5G smart ports and building information management (BIM) +smart cities,
and innovation projects such as the ecological innovation center of Chinese
technology firm Huawei, and the Apollo Intelligent Driving Ecosystem of Chinese
tech giant Baidu.
Enterprises know best Guangzhou’s confidence and resolution
in developing digital economy. China's Internet giants Tencent and Alibaba, home
appliance retailer Gome, tech giant Xiaomi, leading global video-based social
media platform Joyy Inc., major online discount retailer Vipshop, and e-commerce
platform Global Market Group are all accelerating construction
of their projects in Guangzhou.
“Guangzhou is a favored place and a test field for the
development of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital economy. It has a broad
prospect in the two fields,” said Liu Nan, general manager of the strategic development
division of the South China region of Alibaba Group and its affiliate
Ant Financial.
Photo shows a screenshot of the website of self-driving
startup Pony.ai.
Guangzhou steps up efforts to foster new growth drivers
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