The Hong Kong Science Park is the largest research and development (R&D) base and business incubator in the city. The site is home to more than 1,100 companies and 17,000 innovators.
Launched in 2002 by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government to promote the city’s scientific and technological development, the park also houses high-end laboratories with advanced scientific research equipment.
So far, it has 28 R&D laboratories jointly operated by world-class universities and research institutions with local universities in Hong Kong. It occupies a total area of 400 thousand square meters, has 23 well-equipped buildings and continues to expand.
Among the companies located in the park are artificial intelligence (AI) giant SenseTime, which is the only Science Park company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI), the world’s leading drone maker. commercials.
The high-tech hub was visited by Chinese President Xi Jinping during a busy two-day trip to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China and to formalize the inauguration ceremony of the new government.
During the visit to the Science Park, Xi commented that the country has high expectations for Hong Kong. He stated that China has established support for the city’s development into an international center of innovation and technology in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025). Launched last year, the document serves as a plan and agenda of actions for the country’s social and economic development over the next five years.
In recent years, with the support of the central government, Hong Kong has leveraged its own advantages to make remarkable achievements in basic research, talent cultivation and development in the innovation and technology sector, Xi noted.
In 2021, Hong Kong ranked 14th in the global list of the most innovative economies, according to the Global Innovation Index (GII) released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
The HKSAR government should fully play the role of technological innovation in supporting and leading economic development, Xi added.
During a conversation with academics, researchers and young representatives of innovation companies at the Science Park, Xi called on Hong Kong to better cooperate with mainland cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA). He also urged that collaborative development of companies, universities and research institutions be strengthened, and efforts made to transform the GBA into a global plateau for scientific and technological innovation.
GBA’s Power of Innovation
The GBA comprises the two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, and nine cities in the neighboring province of Guangdong. The total area is about 56 thousand square kilometers and covers about 6% of the Chinese population.
The GBA’s gross domestic product (GDP) reached 12.6 trillion yuan (US$1.97 trillion) last year, 2.4 trillion yuan more than in 2017. With less than 1% of the world’s land area, country, the GBA contributed to 11% of the national GDP.
Chinese Vice Minister of Science and Technology Shao Xinyu said the GBA’s innovation capabilities have been steadily increasing. He cited that in 2021, R&D spending of the nine cities in the Pearl River Delta region within the GBA reached 360 billion yuan, representing about 3.7% of their GDP, compared to the overall national level. of 2.44%.
The number of high-tech companies in the area reached 57,000, and the number of patents granted reached about 780,000, of which more than 100,000 were invention patents, Shao pointed out.
In the list of the top 100 geographic innovation clusters in the world, published annually by WIPO, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster has ranked second for the past two consecutive years.
The rising innovation cluster, with notable growth in patents and scientific publications, has closed its gap with Tokyo-Yokohama, the number 1 innovation cluster on the list.
Support for the scientific and technological development of Hong Kong and Macau
China’s Ministry of Science and Technology has launched a series of measures to support the scientific and technological development of Hong Kong and Macao to promote greater integration into the national innovation system.
The ministry supported Hong Kong in building a batch of innovation platforms, including 16 State Key Laboratories, six branches of China’s National Engineering Research Centers in Hong Kong, three national high-tech industrialization partner bases, and two national-level incubators for science and technology companies.
A similar policy was adopted with Macau.
The ministry also presented measures to support young people from Hong Kong and Macau to pursue careers in innovative industries and start their own businesses on the mainland.
China announces plan to increase digitalization of consumer goods industries
The Chinese government has announced an action plan to facilitate the digitization of the consumer goods industry as the country moves forward to drive the integration of the digital and real economies and create and meet consumer demand.
China aims to achieve remarkable improvements in the integration and application of digital technologies in the consumer goods industry by 2025, according to the plan jointly released by five government departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Greater integration and application of digital technologies would help improve the supply of consumer goods, expand industrial chains, increase the industry’s added value and encourage companies to strengthen digital innovation in research and development and core competitiveness, the ministry said. .
According to the plan, the proportions of consumer goods companies that have digitized management and operations, equipped with digital tools for research, development and design, and introduced e-commerce into business are expected to exceed 80% by 2025.
China also intends to promote 200 demonstration factories for smart manufacturing in sectors such as textiles and apparel, home appliances, consumer electronics, food and medicine during the plan period. It also aims to boost 50 demo cities that will achieve remarkable progress in digitization, product variety, quality and branding.
The plan specified 10 tasks to increase product variety and quality and build brands, such as developing “more consumer internet products” that improve people’s well-being, promoting customized and flexible production to reshape product development and of production and accelerate the establishment of a quality tracking system.
China’s apparel industry reports revenue growth from January to May
China’s apparel industry has seen growth in operating income in the first five months of this year. From January to May, the country’s top 13,053 apparel companies earned a total of 561.1 billion yuan (about US$83.9 billion), up 6.1% year-on-year, according to data released by the Ministry. of Industry and Information Technology.
The total profits of these companies fell 4.6% year-on-year to 23.3 billion yuan. Combined production expanded 0.5% year-over-year to 9.3 billion pieces. In the January-May period, the country’s apparel and accessories exports rose 10.2% to $62.2 billion, ministry data showed.
China’s largest coal-based ethanol project enters experimental operation
China’s largest coal-based ethanol project, with an annual output of 500,000 tonnes, was put into trial operation in the northwestern city of Yulin in Shaanxi province last Thursday.
The project uses coal as a raw material to produce ethanol and other chemicals and can convert 1.5 million tons of coal annually. Experts said that three tons of grain can produce one ton of ethanol, saving 1.5 million tons of raw bioethanol grains every year when in full service.
“Compared to the traditional method of producing ethanol with grain fermentation, the project first and foremost saves food for us and solves the food safety problem, and it is also of important and strategic importance for using high quality coal. in the future,” explained the deputy director of the Dalian Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Li Xianfeng.
Ethanol, also known as industrial alcohol, is a widely used chemical raw material that can produce more than 300 kinds of related products.
The Yulin project produces ethanol through the carbonylation of dimethyl ether, an internationally leading technology with independent intellectual property rights in China.
In addition to the four methods of using coal to produce olefins, oil, natural gas and ethylene glycol, the new green technology will drive the high-quality, diversified, low-carbon development of China’s coal chemical industry.
“Through the industrial category extension, the added value of the industry has increased more than three times. And more than 1,000 jobs will be available when the facilities come on stream,” said Shaanxi Yanchang’s deputy general manager ? petrochemical and coal company that operates the plant?, Li Junlin.
World’s largest 3D-printed T-Rex on display at Universal Resort Beijing
Five 3D-printed dinosaurs, including the world’s largest 3D-printed T-Rex, are on display at Universal Resort Beijing.
The models on display replicate species from Universal Pictures’ latest sci-fi film, “Jurassic World: Dominion”.
In addition to the T-Rex, 1:1 scale animatronic dinosaurs include the iconic female Velociraptor Blue and her baby, a Tyrannosaurus, a Stegosaurus and a Pterosaur.
The resort resumed operations on June 25th after being closed for nearly two months since May 1st due to the latest wave of Covid-19.
Dinosaurs will be on display until September 30th.
‘Liuyieliu’ ethnic festival celebrated in southwest China’s Guizhou
The ‘Liuyieliu’ Festival celebrates the new year of the Dong ethnic group in Jianhe, Sanjiang, Liping and Congjiang counties in southwest China’s Guizhou province. The celebration is held after the autumn harvest and this year takes place from July 2nd to 5th.
During the feast, people make pickles, frozen fish and sticky rice balls as gifts for relatives. Other preparations similar to those of the Han people during the traditional Spring Festival are also made, such as cleaning the house and putting on new clothes.
The ‘Liuyieliu’ Festival commemorative activities pay tribute to Dong’s heroine, Xing Ni, who died for the freedom of her people over a thousand years ago. Known as “Sasui” (“grandmother” in the Dong language), many villages built temples in honor of the historical character.
On feast days, a procession of young men and women carry hunting rifles to mimic going out to battle, in memory of Xing. There is also a party for young people in the evening, when young men bring grilled pork skewers (a symbol of togetherness) and sticky rice balls to give to the women.
According to tradition, men accompany women home. Couples can be alone in an area near the woman’s house, where they often sing love songs to each other and share food.
There are also performances of folk and dragon dances and “lusheng”, a traditional wind instrument made from reeds.