Knowledge city shines as beacon of innovation

The Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City is expected to attract a further influx of dynamic investment and professionals - thanks to closer cooperation just announced between the Lion city and the southern Chinese coastal province of Guangdong.

Officials said SSGKC's importance continues to grow, and the iconic project for Sino-Singaporean collaboration since 2010 will soon be elevated to the status of a State-level bilateral project.

Situated at the heart of Pearl River Delta Region and in a massive greenfield site in the southern city of Guangzhou, SSGKC is widely seen as a model and catalyst for the economic transformation and the industrial upgrade of the province as a global producer of cheaper goods to high-end and cutting-edge production.

At a total site area of 123 square kilometers, it is being developed in a series of phases over the 15-20 years starting from 2010.

The officials added that both the Chinese and Singaporean governments have agreed to deepen their collaboration in terms of scientific innovation, intellectual property rights, financial services, personnel exchanges, industrial development and community management.

Part of their collaborative efforts, the Sino-Singapore Knowledge Forum, was held in Singapore for the first time on Friday.

The event was a strategic and SSGKC-hosted summit promoting dialogue between government officials, academics and entrepreneurs from Guangdong and Singapore on hot-button topics concerning the practices of bilateral collaboration.

On the same day in Singapore, memorandums of understanding and strategic cooperation agreements were signed at the annual meeting of the Singapore-Guangdong Collaboration Council, an official body co-chaired by Ma Xingrui, governor of Guangdong and Ong Ye Kung, education minister of Singapore.

The new projects, which cover several sectors including artificial intelligence, smart travel and training, will give a powerful boost to the development of SSGKC, local officials said.

During the meeting, Singapore-based e-scooter sharing service provider Neuron Mobility signed an agreement with Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City Investment and Development Co, a joint venture operator, to set up a smart urban mobility innovation center in the knowledge city to support its research and development activities as well as global operations.

The innovation center project also involves a third partner, Ascendas Onehub GKC, which runs about 600,000 square meters of residential and commercial floor space in SSGKC.

According to the agreement, Neuron plans to launch the pilot project in SSGKC to test out transportation solutions to the "last mile" problem in China.

The so-called last mile issue refers to a common concern of metro commuters, after they get out of a subway exit and face walking the last stretch to their offices.

Also on the same site, the SSGKC Administrative Committee signed an important agreement with the SSGKC Investment and Development Co to carry out a three-year training program.

This aims to learn from Singapore's advanced experience and successful practices, to train top professionals for the knowledge city and for Huangpu district, where SSGKC is located.

Dynamic, high-value city

"SSGKC has developed into a knowledge economy center driven by innovation with global competitiveness and a desirable place to work and live," a leading official of the city said.

Located in the core area of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, SSGKC is 25 kilometers from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and almost 35 km from downtown Guangzhou, Guangdong's capital.

Besides the completion of a subway network linking SSGKC to the rest of Guangzhou by the end of this year, in the future the area will also be connected to other cities and provinces by eight rail lines, five roads and seven urban expressways.

"We have favorable locations, a strong research institute, a State-level pilot zone for IP protection and improved transportation network and efficient operations, which ensure SSGKC will be an ideal destination for investment," the official added.

SSGKC is designed to cover a total greenfield area of 123 sq km. But about half of the area has been earmarked for urban use, during the 15 to 20 year development period from the 2010 ground-breaking ceremony, while the other half will be preserved as green spaces.

Ultimately, the knowledge city will house a population of 500,000 and become a vibrant place for all to "live, work, learn and play", its designers have said.

To date, the project's startup phase, with an area of 6.27 sq km, has been substantially completed.

According to official figures, more than 1,000 companies have registered with SSGKC since 2010, with an aggregate registered capital of nearly 110 billion yuan ($16.1 billion) and about 82 billion yuan in fixed assets.

Five high-end industrial parks - that focus on new-generation information technology, AI, biomedicines, new energy and new materials - have been built in SSGKC.

A large number of international and domestic leading enterprises have settled in SSGKC. These include General Electric, BeiGene, Innocare, CanSemi, China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom, Siemens, Carl Zeiss, Alibaba Cloud, Greatoo Intelligent and Focus Media.

In 2016, the State Council gave its approval for SSGKC to carry out reforms and experiments in the utilization and protection of IP rights, to help foster a business-friendly environment that respects and protects IP values.