Macao is vowing all-out efforts to contribute to the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macao innovation and technology corridor, a cross-boundary project that aims to transform the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area into a global inno-tech hub whose focus will include traditional Chinese medicine, the internet of things and planetary science.
To further this goal, the special administrative region’s government is looking for land in other Bay Area cities on the west bank of the Pearl River Estuary to build an integrated technology park with industrial facilities, and educational and research institutions.
Mi Jian, director of Macao’s Policy Research and Regional Development Bureau, revealed the plan in a group interview with about 50 media outlets on Tuesday.
Noting that inno-tech development tops Macao’s priority list, Mi said Macao is actively strengthening cross-boundary scientific collaboration to help break its development bottleneck that comes from its limited land resources and market scale.
Bay Area cities on the west bank of the estuary, such as Zhuhai, Zhongshan and Jiangmen, are ideal partners, considering their geographical proximity to Macao and diversified industrial chains, Mi said.
Besides, major cross-boundary infrastructure projects, including the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the under-construction Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge, also strengthen the connection between cities on the west bank, he said.
The new park will make a priority of transforming Macao’s prominent scientific breakthroughs achieved by the city’s four leading laboratories, Mi said.
They are the State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine; the State Key Laboratory of Analog and Mixed-Signal VLSI; the State Key Laboratory of Internet of Things for Smart City; and the State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences.
Mi said he hopes to persuade reputable educational and scientific institutions in Macao and other Bay Area cities to establish connections with the park.
In March, Zhuhai and the University of Macau reached an agreement to build a similar technological park in Hengqin New Area in Zhuhai. The 1-hectare park, the first phase of which is expected to open by the end of July, will be dedicated to scientific research in areas such as microelectronics, traditional Chinese medicine, smart cities and advanced materials.
Unveiled on Feb 18, the Bay Area’s development outline vowed to pursue the development of the “Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macao” innovation and technology corridor and explore policies to facilitate the cross-boundary flow of innovation elements such as talents, capital, information and technologies.