{"id":2535,"date":"2019-11-15T08:03:39","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T14:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cbbcfocus.com\/?p=2535"},"modified":"2025-04-23T10:13:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T10:13:12","slug":"gba-innovation-corridor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/gba-innovation-corridor\/","title":{"rendered":"Explaining the Greater Bay Area\u2019s Innovation Corridor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anthony Lawrance of Greater Bay Insights<\/a> explains the basics of the Greater Bay Area\u2019s Innovation Corridor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shenzhen is often called China\u2019s Palo Alto, the city at the heart of Silicon Valley, a reflection of the way in which the Greater Bay Area is often called China\u2019s Silicon Valley. Yet what many observers do not realize is that there is, in fact, a blueprint for China\u2019s Silicon Valley within the overall masterplan of the Greater Bay Area. It is known by a name that only a bureaucrat could have come up with: the Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Corridor (or STIC).<\/p>\n

The three cities at the heart of southern China\u2019s tech industry Guangzhou, Dongguan and Shenzhen need little introduction, even if the plan that links together their hi-tech capabilities does.<\/p>\n

The STIC is a 180 km belt of districts and hi-tech parks that runs down the eastern side of the Bay. It begins at the Guangzhou-Foshan border, passes through central Guangzhou, winds its way down to Nansha, cuts across to Dongguan\u2019s Songshan Lake, and then heads south again to end in Shenzhen, a city literally made up of hi-tech zones.<\/p>\n

The innovation corridor is connected by transport arteries: the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expressway, the Guangzhou-Shenzhen coastal highway, the Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen Intercity Rail and the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway. These are expanding and developing at a rapid pace.<\/p>\n

Initiated in 2017, the masterplan for this \u201cinnovation corridor\u201d is modelled not only upon Silicon Valley, but also on the Boston-Cambridge-New York tech hub on the US east coast, as well as Japan\u2019s Tokyo-Yokohama-Kobe-Tsukuba tech hub. These innovation and economic centres are built on clusters of industries that are concentrated together with universities, research institutions, and a keenly interested pack of venture capitalists.<\/p>\n

As shown in this table, the Greater Bay\u2019s innovation plan has some major ambitions for the coming decade:<\/p>\n

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Source:\u00a0thePaper.cn<\/a><\/p>\n

Already, there\u2019s no shortage of superstar companies already in the STIC. Tencent, Netease, Huawei, ZTE, DJI, OPPO, Vivo \u2013 the list goes on. The corridor has a combined annual industrial output of over RMB 1 trillion.<\/p>\n

As with many, if not all, Chinese masterplans, numbers are a key component of the overall blueprint. This one is based on a geographic layout referred to in official documents as\u00a0\u201cOne Corridor, Ten Cores and Multiple Nodes.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0Let\u2019s break them down.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>One Corridor<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Taking inspiration from the US west coast\u2019s Highway 101, which runs through the states of California, Oregon and Washington, and the US east coast\u2019s Route 128, the \u201cOne Corridor\u201d refers to the 180-kilometer belt running through Guangzhou, Dongguan and Shenzhen. It is similar in size to Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n

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Ten Cores<\/strong><\/h2>\n

These are \u201cinnovation clusters\u201d along the Corridor, with four in both Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and two in Dongguan. They are:<\/p>\n

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  1. Guangzhou University Town<\/strong>, a high-tech talent innovation and entrepreneurship base and the core platform for scientific and technological cooperation in southern China. Supported by no fewer than 10 university campuses on a gigantic island, it is the region\u2019s core research and development force. It focuses on information technology, new materials and high-end manufacturing, creative culture and bioscience.<\/li>\n
  2. Guangzhou Pazhou Internet Innovation Cluster\u00a0<\/strong>aims to build up an internet industry headquarters for the region, a destination for global internet investment and a gathering place for international high-end talent.<\/li>\n
  3. Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City<\/strong>, an industrial zone, focuses on bio-medicine, electronic information, new materials and other knowledge-driven industries.<\/li>\n
  4. Guangzhou Science City <\/strong>aims to become the regional technology and innovation centre, led by strategic emerging industries. Its focus is on electronic information, new materials, and the bio-medicine industry. The city\u2019s goal is to build a start-up ecosystem with a high concentration of innovation elements.<\/li>\n
  5. Dongguan Songshan Lake<\/strong>aims to build a global science and technology park and an ecological demonstration town. It focuses on the development of high-end electronic information, robotics, biotechnology, new energy, and modern service industries.<\/li>\n
  6. Dongguan Binhaiwan New District\u00a0<\/strong>focuses on modern service industries, marine bio-medicine, intelligent equipment, and information technology industries. The new district is an important node on the Corridor that serves as a pilot zone for the integrated development of the services industry.<\/li>\n
  7. Shenzhen Airport City <\/strong>aims to develop an international exhibition trade and service industry and build a world class aerotropolis. It will be focussed on the aerospace industry and intelligent equipment.<\/li>\n
  8. Shenzhen High-Tech Zone\u00a0<\/strong>focuses on new materials, electronic communication, digital audio-visual equipment and biological medicine industry. It aims to build a national-level demonstration zone of intellectual property rights and national high-tech industry standardization exhibition zone.<\/li>\n
  9. Shenzhen Banxue Technology and Science City <\/strong>will develop communications equipment and 5G industry by utilizing the technology and talent spill-over effect from leading enterprises like Huawei.<\/li>\n
  10. Shenzhen International Biological Valley\u00a0<\/strong>focuses on the bio-medicine and bio-science industries. It integrates bio-technology and information technology, aiming to build up a world-leading bio-technology innovation centre.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n