R&D investment in Nansha district exceeds $1.4b

An aerial view of Guangzhou's Nansha district. [Photo/WeChat account: nanshafabu]

Nansha district in Guangzhou has been implementing the innovation-driven development strategy, continuously optimizing their business environment, and introducing favorable policies on science and technology innovation.

Nansha's technological strength and innovation capabilities have steadily improved, with rapid growth in research and development (R&D) investment by accelerating the gathering of high-end innovation resources, and strongly supporting enterprises and research institutions to carry out R&D and experimental development activities.

In 2022, Nansha's total investment in R&D exceeded 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) for the first time. In total, the district received 11.62 billion yuan in investments, an increase of 71.5 percent year-on-year, and ranked first in Guangzhou.

Nansha increased its high-tech enterprises by 9.1 percent from 2021. It cultivated a total of 744 high-tech enterprises, ranking first in Guangzhou. Nansha has gathered three national-level "little giant" enterprises, 24 provincial-level specialized and sophisticated SMEs, 112 municipal-level "two high and four new" enterprises, as well as 11 "unicorn" enterprises.

The district invested 2.8 billion yuan in science and technology, an increase of 57.3 percent. This places them second in terms of total value growth rankings in Guangzhou. This figure also accounts for 11.5 percent of the district's general public budget expenditure.

Almost 11,510 patents were granted in Nansha, of which 1,348 were invention patents. Enterprises conducting R&D activities owned 2,631 registered trademarks, an increase of 32.5 percent from 2021.