Tianhe district's sci-tech achievements over the past five years were reviewed and its main development targets for the next five years were released during the first session of the 10th Tianhe District People's Congress on Oct 27.

By the end of 2020, the number of incubators and maker spaces in the district totaled 225, ranking first in Guangzhou, and four national-level incubators were newly added this year, topping all the districts, counties and county-level cities countrywide.

There were 2,995 national high-tech enterprises in Tianhe by 2020, ranking first in Guangzhou. The number of patent applications and grants during the past five years reached 51,000 and 27,000, respectively, with the sum topping the city for 18 consecutive years.

The 105 innovation carriers in the district fostered more than 10 future unicorn enterprises, each of which has a market valuation of over $50 million. A unicorn refers to a startup valued at more than $1 billion within 10 years of its establishment.

Tianhe district. [Photo/thnet.gov.cn]

In the next five years, Tianhe will further advance its innovation-driven development strategy and improve the sci-tech innovation system to build itself into an innovation hub with a global influence.

It will promote the high-quality development of eight national key laboratories and four joint labs built by Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. It is expected that by 2025, the district's R&D spending will account for 4 percent of its GDP, and the number of national high-tech enterprises above designated size will exceed 1,200.

An industrial enterprise above designated size refers to one that has an annual operation revenue surpassing 20 million yuan ($3.13 million).

The district is also devoted to building a world-class business environment that is fairer and more transparent. It will fully implement the market access negative list, deepen the reform of the governmental review and approval system, and improve the social credit system and the trust-breaking restraint system.

In addition, the district will vigorously develop digital creative industries to build a world-class e-sports center in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.