As the capital of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou’s strong economic and cultural ties with Hong Kong are expected to expand under the Greater Bay Area (GBA) development plan.
Chamber Chairman Stephen Ng, and China Committee Chairman PC Yu, led a 35-member delegation to Guangzhou from July 13 to 14 to explore what role Hong Kong can play in the GBA. During the two-day mission, members met with officials to discuss planning issues and advantages, as well as the city’s advances in innovative technology.
A goal of the GBA is to become an international centre of innovative technology in the region. To find out how this might be achieved, the delegation visited the National SuperComputer Centre in Guangzhou’s Sun Yat-sen University to view the Tianhe 2, which was the world’s fastest supercomputer until a few years ago. The computer can process data for a variety of fields, ranging from astronomy to environment engineering, to digital design and manufacturing.
During the mission, members also called on HeyGears Technology Ltd, a leader in 3D printing technology, and eHang Inc., a developer of intelligent flying drones. Members learned that HeyGear’s proprietary 3D printing technology is already used in bio-medicine and manufacturing, and that eHang’s drones and auto-piloting passenger drones occupy leading positions in the local market.
With the Mainland being the world’s second largest investor in artificial intelligence (AI) research and development, at US$2.6 billion, second only to the U.S., according to the state-run Chinese think tank Wuzhen Institute, members also visited iFlytek, which focuses on research in intelligent speech and artificial intelligence, and has made significant progress in areas such as speech synthesis and speech recognition. Another eye-opening visit was to KingMed Centre for Clinical Laboratory Co., Ltd, which runs 34 medical diagnostic labs on the Mainland and in Hong Kong to provide diagnostic support to over 20,000 medical institutions.
PC Yu, China Committee Chairman, said that Guangzhou had made enviable progress in nurturing innovative technology and he looks forward to more cooperation and exchanges with Hong Kong on developing these types of technologies.
Guangzhou’s positioning in the GBA
During meetings with He Zhongyou, Vice Governor of Guangdong Province, and Wen Guohui, Mayor of Guangzhou, members learned about Guangdong and Guangzhou’s positioning in the GBA, and discussed cooperation opportunities with Hong Kong.
Chamber Chairman Stephen Ng said that the Hong Kong business community is looking to play an active role in the GBA’s planning and development, and hopes to leverage Hong Kong’s international experience to work with Guangdong and Macao in financial, shipping, trade and professional services sectors, as well as offshore RMB business and international asset management to help build the GBA into a world-class bay area.
The delegation also met with Chen Jie, Director General of the Guangzhou Municipal Commission of Commerce, and Lei Weiju, Deputy Director–General of the Guangzhou Municipal People’s Government Hong Kong & Macao Affairs Office, as well as visited Tianhe CBD to explore the district’s development.