On the shores of the South China Sea and the Pearl River, a world-class city cluster is emerging in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, featuring vigorous development, innovative capabilities, an optimized industrial structure, the smooth flow of assets, and a beautiful natural environment.

A key part of the Guangzhou Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy Pilot Area, Pazhou Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy Pilot Zone in Haizhu district covers an area of some 30 square kilometers.

In 2019, 243 exhibitions, with a total exhibition area of 10.42 million square meters, were held in Pazhou. The influence of Pazhou's convention industries continues to expand, and the scale of its exhibitions ranks among the top in the country.

On Dec 18, 2020, the construction of the fourth phase of the Canton Fair's exhibition hall kicked off in Pazhou. It is expected to be completed by the end of July 2022. It will be put into use in the fall of 2022 as one of the largest exhibition halls in the world.

Meanwhile, a passenger port project linking Pazhou, Hong Kong and Macao is under construction.

Wang Jun, a senior executive of a Pazhou-based passenger transport company, said the port project is an important water transport hub in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

It is a major project that improves the connection between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, and promotes the construction of a world-class city cluster.

Pazhou Hong Kong-Macao Passenger Port is under construction

Technological innovation

Pazhou is home to 337 high-tech enterprises, which is 8.6 times the number it possessed in 2015. There are 18 key laboratories, incubators, new-type research and development institutions, and engineering technology research centers above the city level.

Since the launch of the provincial-level Pazhou laboratory of artificial intelligence and digital economy, the area has introduced 12 scientific research teams in such fields as artificial intelligence and the digital economy, brain-computer intelligence, brain diseases and health, intelligent networking, intelligent perception and wireless transmission, intelligent production lines, distributed medical imaging, medical intelligence analysis, artificial intelligence models and algorithms, intelligent metamaterials, brain emotion cognition and industrial intelligence. 

The laboratory is seeking cooperation with key laboratories in Shenzhen to make joint efforts to promote scientific and technological innovation.

Pazhou laboratory

Another highlight of Pazhou's science and technology innovation is the Zhongda International Innovation Eco Valley.

At present, Haizhu district is urging the valley to establish a base for transforming scientific and technological achievements.

Sun Yat-sen University is establishing a collaborative mechanism with the government of Haizhu to boost scientific innovations. The construction of the innovation ecosphere and Xingang Road science and technology innovation avenue is speeding up.

 The valley has attracted many institutions such as the Guangzhou Innovation Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and the Belarusian National Pavilion at the Canton Fair.

A digital economy platform

On April 6, China's e-commerce giant Alibaba settled its South China operations center - which focuses on mobile business, smart cities, and upstream and downstream collection services - in Pazhou.

To date, Pazhou has approved eight national, provincial and municipal platforms. Of these, the National New Industrialization Industry Demonstration Base of Big Data was given a four-star rating in the 2020 National New Industrialization Industry Demonstration Base Evaluation Results, as announced by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

As the province's first big data industry demonstration platform, the base connects the digital economy with the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. It has introduced nearly 20 projects invested by Fortune Global 500 companies and Fortune China 500 companies.

The base is expected to introduce more companies into the digital economy with the launch of various high-end industrial carriers.

By 2025, the output value of the core industries of the digital economy in Haizhu district will account for more than 60 percent of the output value of the for-profit service industry, and the revenue of the software and information service industry will exceed 75 billion yuan.

With the increasing digital penetration rate and strengthened technological innovation, the base is expected to form an industrial cluster with high-quality development centered on artificial intelligence and digital economy.

Guo Mingfu, director of the Pazhou administrative committee of Haizhu district, said the district has issued an action plan to promote the high-quality development of Guangzhou Artificial Intelligence and the Digital Economy Pilot Zone.

Documents for quality development have established the “five systems” of policies, services, indicators, guarantees, and assessments to put the Pazhou Pilot Area into the fast lane of the region's high-quality development.