1.25b yuan deals made at GBA innovation, entrepreneurship competition

The two-day finals of the 1st Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Postdoctoral Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition closed on Feb 28 in Zhuhai, with four gold-prize, eight silver-prize, and 10 bronze-prize winners standing out.

Prize winners will be awarded a project subsidy of up to 200,000 yuan ($28,913) each, with the reward volume totaling 3 million yuan ($433,690).

Closing and awarding ceremony of the 1st Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Postdoctoral Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. [Photo by Zhaozi / Zhuhai Media Group]

More than 60 famous domestic investment and financing institutes, such as Qianhai FOF, Oriza Direct Investment, and Addor Capital, reached out to the candidates of more than 400 doctoral-postdoctoral innovation and entrepreneurship projects looking for cooperation. Among them, 73 signed agreements with an intended cooperation amount of 1.25 billion yuan ($180.76 million).

A total of 236 prestigious universities, sci-tech institutes, industry-leading enterprises, and health institutes in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area promoted 4,030 job opportunities at the job fair and attracted more than 2,300 doctors and postdocs from 152 famous universities at home and abroad. On that day, over 600 job-seekers reached an employment intention. 

Guangdong Province is a window into China's reform and opening-up, according to Xue Wanli, an official from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

The province currently has 1,267 postdoctoral sci-tech research platforms and 1,083 doctoral workstations, which enrolled 4,519 postdocs in 2022. The annual average growth rate of newly-enrolled postdocs at Guangdong's workstations has exceeded 19 percent for five consecutive years and the number of newly-enrolled postdocs has been topping China for years.

Yang Chuan, executive vice mayor of Zhuhai, said that Zhuhai has set up 108 postdoctoral sci-tech research stations and has attracted nearly 5,000 doctors and postdocs to settle in the city.

Li Weihui, Party secretary of Xiangzhou District, noted that Xiangzhou, as a downtown area in Zhuhai, has the best industrial foundation, living environment, and basic education resources in Zhuhai. The district's total economic aggregate, total investment in research and development, and number of invention patents each accounts for nearly half of Zhuhai's total. 

In 2022, Xiangzhou introduced 537 sci-tech projects and welcomed the settlement of 269 doctors and postdocs. It has been implementing the Xiangshan Talent Program in whole-heartedly, and has attracted more than 10,000 talents and issued a total talent reward of 360 million yuan ($52.16 million).