Recently, Foshan National High-tech Industrial Development Zone (hereinafter referred to as "FHIDZ") is ablaze with activities: inside the Foshan Talent Innovation Lighthouse Industrial Park, a number of key projects are in full swing; Concurrently, several crucial indicators show positive growth, accelerating the development of new quality productivity.
Recently, FHIDZ released its Half-Year Report in 2024, showcasing commendable achievements. Under the initiative of "One Zone, Five Parks," 52 industrial projects exceeding one billion yuan each have been introduced, with a total investment of 28.686 billion yuan. Breakthroughs have been made in several critical core technologies, with 5 companies nominated for National Science and Technology Awards.
From January to June, industrial output value and operating income of enterprises under statistical scope in FHIDZ reached 296.02 billion yuan and 311.625 billion yuan respectively, representing year-on-year growth of 0.6% and 0.7%. Total exports amounted to 55.532 billion yuan, up by 3.5% year-on-year.
These sets of figures record developmental achievements, demonstrating the resilience and stability of this national high-tech zone. This year, FHIDZ persists in advancing both hard technology and enhancing soft services, aiming towards the goals of innovation, industrial, talent, and service highlands.
Led by the FHIDZ Management Committee, the Foshan Talent Innovation Lighthouse Industrial Park is accelerating towards becoming a benchmark park for developing new quality productivity. (Photo by Dai Jiaxin, Nanfang Plus)
Keyword 1: Carriers Expansion
Moving towards benchmark parks
Currently, Foshan is pooling its efforts to strategize for the future: the main battlefield is set at the Northern Foshan Strategic New Industrial Park, spanning two districts and nine townships, implementing a northward strategy.
This move aims not only to tackle the "five district syndrome" but also to prevent falling into the trap of "old industrial bases," hoping to promote the fusion of industry and technology, and construct a youthful and modernized manufacturing system.
The Northern Foshan Strategic New Industrial Park, the largest industrial park ever planned by the Foshan Municipal Government, covers a planned area of 518 square kilometers. To strengthen the guarantee of park construction elements, Foshan has established a mechanism for municipal functional departments to support the construction of the park, with the FHIDZ concurrently taking an active role in coordinating the construction of the Northern Foshan Strategic New Industrial Park.
Firstly, it rapidly constructed the foundation of park infrastructure. Since its establishment in 2022, with the FHIDZ Management Committee as the main body, it has successfully applied for more than 1 billion yuan in special bond funds to support park infrastructure construction. In the first half of this year, the Management Committee coordinated the application for 7 special bond projects for the Northern Foshan Strategic New Industrial Park, issuing an initial batch of 76 million yuan in special bonds to comprehensively enhance the efficiency of park construction.
Secondly, it accelerated construction progress to establish the connection through each park. As of now, in the Sanshui area, the first phase of Guangdong Medical Valley at Yuandonghai Medical and Health Industry Park has been fully capped. At Datong Lake Science and Technology Park, the construction project of the High-end Medical Device Industrial Park and Science and Technology Innovation Center has been capped, and projects such as Tangle Road pipeline network and Bihu Zhongliu road network have been completed.
Provincially and municipally co-built key projects, the Provincial Drug Administration "Two Institutes and One Center" projecthas topped out, and the Provincial Health Commission's "One Base and Two Centers" construction plan is accelerating compilation; Nanhai area, Chanxi Avenue North Extension, Airport Avenue, Bo'ai Lake area, and Guanyao Cargo Yard Logistics Park road networks have been fully completed and opened to traffic.
As one of the five starting zones of the Northern Foshan Strategic New Industrial Park, the Foshan Talent Innovation Lighthouse Industrial Park has frequently reported good news in the first half of this year: Key sci-tech innovation carriers such as the Foshan Wanyang Technology Innovation Park have been completed and delivered, and the main structure of the Lighthouse Innovation Building has been completed; Over 20 sci-tech projects such as Feishi Technology have been introduced, accelerating the formation of an integrated industrial ecological chain of production, study, research, and innovation; Lighthouse Community Municipal Supporting Facilities (North Zone) and Talent Park (Phase I) have been basically completed and were rated as "2023 Guangdong Provincial Municipal Excellent Model Projects."
Currently, the Foshan Talent Innovation Lighthouse Industrial Park, led by the FHIDZ Management Committee, is accelerating towards becoming a benchmark park for developing new quality productivity.
Keyword 2: Technological Innovation
5 Companies Nominated for National Science and Technology Awards
The high-tech zone is a gathering place for technology and an incubator for innovation. The key to whether a high-tech zone has competitiveness and great potential for development lies in whether it can effectively implement the "high" and "new" aspects.
When discussing how FHIDZ is creating an innovation hub, the key themes of the first half of this year are "one batch of pilot platforms put into operation," "one batch of demonstration project scenes promoted and applied, and "one batch of breakthroughs in key core technologies."
Let's start with the pilot platforms. In order to accelerate the deep integration of scientific and industrial innovation, FHIDZ promoted the operation of a batch of pilot platforms this year. For example, the Advanced Battery Research and Testing Pilot Platform at Yuandonghai Medical and Health Industry Park in Chancheng has been recognized as the first batch of pilot platforms in Foshan, and the country's first dry electrode trial line for halide-based all-solid-state batteries has been constructed; In Nanhai, Guangdong Institute of Semiconductor Nanomanufacturing Technology Research Institute's two major pilot verification platforms for semiconductor nanofabrication and external research on semiconductor materials have also been officially completed and put into use.
Next, let's talk about demonstration project scenes. In the first half of this year, FHIDZ used scene innovation to drive the transformation and upgrading of manufacturing industry. Five new technology application scenario demonstration projects such as family energy smart management system, heavy-duty industrial robots, and cable AI quality inspection have entered the scene construction and application promotion stage.
It is worth mentioning that this year, FHIDZ also promoted a batch of breakthroughs in key core technologies. Five companies were nominated for National Science and Technology Awards; 11 projects led or participated in by high-tech zone enterprises were shortlisted for Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Awards, among which Guangdong Fozhi Xin Microelectronics Technology Research Co.,Ltd. participated in the project "Key Technologies and Equipment for Microarray Manufacturing of Electronic Device High-Density Packaging," which won the first prize for technological invention.
The surge of technological innovation is surging forward, and those who dare to forge ahead will win. It is revealed that FHIDZ will further strengthen the ranks of high-tech enterprises, striving for the proportion of high-tech enterprises in the total number of high-tech enterprises in the city to reach 56% by the end of this year, an increase of 3% from last year.
Keywords 3: Investment Attraction
Total Investment Reached Nearly 29 Billion Yuan in the First Half of the Year
The success of investment attraction is a vivid demonstration of economic vitality. FHIDZ has made attracting investments a top priority, focusing on bringing in industrial projects to empower economic development.
On the one hand, FHIDZ conducts comprehensive surveys of existing land, industrial carriers, and other resources, categorizing the leading industries and their needs in the park. They have created a series of promotional tools, including brochures, investment maps, and promotional videos, to present a unified external image of the "One Zone, Five Parks." This makes it easier for external investors to gain a clear and in-depth understanding of the High-Tech Zone.
On the other hand, the Management Committee of the FHIDZ and the Administrative Bureaus of the Five Parks have collaborated with the Municipal Investment Promotion Bureau and District Investment Bureaus to conduct investment promotion activities in key regions such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, and Chengdu-Chongqing. These efforts have facilitated over 100 investment projects.
These initiatives have attracted numerous enterprises to FHIDZ, accelerating the implementation of projects.
In the first half of the year, the "One Zone, Five Parks" of FHIDZ introduced 52 industrial projects totaling investments of 28.686 billion yuan, including 11 projects exceeding 1 billion yuan.
While attracting investments progresses rapidly, ensuring the effective implementation of project construction is equally important. This year, FHIDZ has integrated resources for enterprise services, restructured approval processes, and established a comprehensive "one-stop" service center to support the project implementation, construction, and operation of investment projects.
For instance, Sanshui Park has implemented the "List System+ Notification Commitment System" for approval reforms and established a temporary party branch for key projects to provide frontline services, facilitating 17 provincial and municipal key projects with an investment of 2.567 billion yuan in the first half of the year, achieving 64.82% of the annual investment plan.
Keywords 4: Service Quality
Optimizing Full-Process Enterprise Services
The development of high-quality platforms and tech enterprises relies heavily on supportive services.
Technological innovation cannot thrive without capital. To address the financing challenges faced by tech enterprises, FHIDZ has partnered with seven banks, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Construction Bank, to develop nearly 40 specialized financial products and services in the first half of the year, granting credit lines of 35 billion yuan to high-tech zone enterprises. Among these, the exclusive product "High-tech Zone Credit Loan" has approved funding applications for 22 enterprises, amounting to over 1.058 billion yuan. These products and services have significantly boosted the growth of enterprises.
To further support enterprise development, facilitating industrial connections is equally crucial. This year, the management committee of FHIDZ, in collaboration with the city's Beijing Office, co-established the "Beijing-Foshan iCreate Space," promoting deep cooperation between Beijing and Foshan in collaborative incubation of technological achievements and industrial projects. The first batch of 13 cooperation projects was collectively signed. Additionally, the Guangzhou-Foshan-Zhaoqing Technology Industry Integration Exchange and Technology Achievement Transformation Docking Event was held, providing a platform for the transformation of technological achievements and industrial upgrading among these three regions.
Talented personnel are the backbone of successful ventures. Attentive and warm services are key to FHIDZ's appeal. This year, the high-tech zone has focused on high-level talent entrepreneurship projects, with leadership team members coordinating to resolve 12 issues for entrepreneurial teams and attracting over 40 high-level talents. Shunde Park has also launched the “De Lin Li” Affordable Housing (Talent) Project, providing transitional housing for over 100 high-level talents.
To further enhance park services, FHIDZ established 11 new enterprise service stations and added 18 professional service agencies to the enterprise servicere source in the first half of the year. According to relevant officials, the next steps include providing targeted, regular, and customized services to key parks and enterprises, striving to create a well-functioning, resource-sharing, and regulated "city-district-park (business association)" three-level service system, aiming to serve over 10,000 enterprises this year.
Looking ahead, FHIDZ will continue to prioritize the cultivation of new productive forces, striving to become a demonstration zone for innovation-driven development, a leading area for new productive forces, and a pioneer in high-quality development.
Reporter | Eleanor, Zoey
Revisor | Lynn, Eddie
Photo | Dai Jiaxin, Nanfang Plus
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