Guangzhou to set up China's first blockchain development pilot zone

 Update:2020-06-01    Source: chinadaily.com.cn

Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, has been approved by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to construct the first blockchain development pilot demonstration zone in the country, accelerating the city's development of its blockchain technology and industry in the years ahead.

As a major software industrial hub in the mainland, the southern metropolis has also introduced specific measures for the city's development of blockchain technology and industry 2020-22, according to a statement released by the city government on Friday.

"Guangzhou will continue to spare no effort to promote blockchain innovation and development and take blockchain as an important breakthrough for independent innovation of core technology, and strive to build the city into a domestic blockchain industry cluster in innovation and application industries.

Major companies in the city will be encouraged and guided to develop and integrate blockchain technology with finance, information, intelligent manufacturing, supply chain, bio-medicine, scientific research, logistics, intellectual property, industrial Internet and related industries in the coming years, to further upgrade their supply chain technologies and digital transformation, said the statement.

"Guangzhou has a dynamic scientific research atmosphere, rich human resources and strong economic development momentum, and therefore, the city has its great advantages to become a new and major blockchain technological and industrial center in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area," the statement said.

Meanwhile, Guangzhou has continuously strengthened the deep integration of the blockchain technology and various fields of the traditional economy, and built a new engine for high-quality economic development in the city, the statement said.

To this end, Guangzhou has expanded its cooperation with major internet and technology companies, including Alibaba, Tencent, JD and Baidu, in developing its blockchain technology and industry, the statement added.

According to official statistics, Guangzhou has, so far, registered more than 400 blockchain companies mainly involved in government administration, finance, bio-medicine, people's livelihood and manufacturing industries.

Guangzhou's GDP reached 1096.829 billion yuan in the first half year of 2020

 Update:2020-07-28    Source: Newsgd.com

Guangzhou saw positive economic growth in the second quarter of 2020 although its GDP went down by 2.7 percent year on year in the first half (H1) of 2020 to 1096.829 billion yuan. It was boosted by recovering development of information service industry, financial industry and others.

In detail, the added value of Guangzhou's primary, secondary and tertiary industry reached 11.617 billion yuan, 283.807 billion yuan and 801.405 billion yuan, with an increase of 4.4%, a decrease of 7% and a decrease of 0.8%, respectively, according to Feng Jun, deputy director of Guangzhou Statistics Bureau. Regarding the added value of the city's IT service industry and financial industry, they saw increases of 14.3% and 8.1%, respectively.

Emerging industries contributed a lot for the city's economic growth in H1, with the added value reached 289.768 billion-yuan, accounting for 26.4% of the city's GDP. For instance, the added value of IAB (information technology, AI and bio-technology) industry increased by 2.5%.

Guangzhou's fixed-asset investment increased by 1.5%, 8.9 percentage points higher than that in Q1, 2020. And its infrastructure investment increased by 4.7%, 8 percentage points higher than that in Q1.

As of now there are 183 new infrastructure projects under construction in the city, that is double over the same period last year, and the actual investment increased by 23.7%. Furthermore, Guangzhou has built 25,300 5G base stations.

Turning to foreign trade, the city's import and export volume was 425.36 billion yuan, with a decrease of 7.6%. Among them, exports went down 1.7% and the imports fell 13.8%. In its trade with the Belt and Road countries, the ASEAN, Oceanian countries and African countries volume rose by 8.3%, 21.7%, 15.1% and 5.4%, respectively.

According to the statistics bureau, Guangzhou will accelerate its economic development in the second half of the year due to the fast growth of a digital economy, new industries and further measures on epidemic prevention and control.

Guangzhou holds talk with representatives of foreign companies

 Update:2020-07-29    Source: eguangzhou.gov.cn

A talk with foreign companies from Europe in Guangzhou is held on July 28. 

Co-organized by the Guangzhou Foundation for International Exchange and Cooperation and the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, a talk with foreign companies from Europe in Guangzhou was held on July 28.

Representatives from relevant government departments, such as the foreign affairs office of the Guangzhou municipal government, the Guangzhou municipal education bureau, the Guangzhou municipal commerce bureau, as well as the exit and entry administration department of the Guangzhou municipal public security bureau were invited to participate in the event.

Issues that European businessmen in Guangzhou were most concerned about in areas like foreign affairs, business, and education were discussed.

Representatives from foreign companies highly praised Guangzhou's effective measures in fighting against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and expressed their gratitude to Guangzhou for creating an open business environment.

Guangzhou holds first off-line robot & smart manufacturing fair after pandemic

 Update:2020-08-10    Source: Newsgd.com

The China (Guangzhou) International Robot & Intelligent Manufacturing Exhibition kicked off at China Import and Export Complex in Guangzhou on August 6th. It’s the industry’s first off-line exhibition nationwide after the COVID-19 pandemic and it will last until Saturday on August 8th.

The exhibition covers an area of 40 thousand square meters and has more than 400 enterprises display their latest products. These enterprises include key intelligent equipment suppliers such as SINOMACH, Xpeng Motors and PCI Tech.

SINOMACH displays the mask-making machine they developed during the pandemic. 

“The number of exhibitors increase despite of the pandemic. They bring a wide range of products including industrial robots, service robots, drones, smart wearable electronics, 3D printing technologies and IoT technologies. They show stronger interest in expanding domestic market this year,” said Liang Wanqian, operator director of SINOMACH Intelligence Technology and one of the organizers of the fair.

Colamark, a Guangzhou-based company, brings its vision tablet counter to the fair this year. Protected by various patents, the machine employs high speed imaging technology to provide tablet counting solution.

Zhou Ying, sales director of Colamark, said Europe and US are the major markets of the machine due to their strong demand for precise tablet counting technology. “Our clients include 17 of the Global Top 30 pharmaceutical manufacturers ranking in 2019. Now that the pharmaceutical industry is rapidly developing in China, expanding the domestic market will be our new focus.”

Smart equipment is a key component of the high-end equipment manufacturing industry in Guangzhou and is fundamental to the city’s economy. The Guangzhou government has been fostering the industry through advantageous policies in recent years. It has clustered a large number of related companies, and the output of its smart equipment industry reached 131 billion yuan in 2019.

Supported by the Guangzhou government, the fair is organized by Guangzhou Industry and Information Technology Bureau and SINOMACH.

Guangzhou strives to be world-class automobile base

 Update:2020-08-26    Source: eguangzhou.gov.cn

The automobile output of Guangzhou in 2019 reached 2.92 million, ranking first in China. 

Guangzhou is striving to build a world-class automobile industry cluster base, said Chen Jianhua, chief economist of the Guangzhou municipal industry and information technology bureau, during a press conference held in Guangzhou on Aug 24.

Guangzhou's automobile industry has maintained stable growth and the automobile output of Guangzhou in 2019 reached 2.92 million, ranking first in China. The production value of Guangzhou's automobile industry in 2019 reached 546.1 billion yuan ($79.02 billion), accounting for 28.4 percent of the city’s total industrial output value above designated size.

The city has released a document on boosting the development of its automobile industry on Aug 17, outlining several goals, such as achieving an annual automobile output of over 5 million by 2025, reaching a production value of 1 trillion yuan for its automobile industry above designated size, realizing the initial commercial operation of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, as well as forming a relatively complete world-class auto parts industry supply system.

Major automobile companies are encouraged to carry out integration, mergers and acquisitions, as well as strategic cooperation to build globally outstanding brands. A bonus of up to 100 million yuan for market promotion will be rewarded to companies with independent research and development ability for five consecutive years.

New models independently developed by local companies achieving a sales volume of over 10,000 in the first year of their debut can receive a one-time subsidy of up to 100 million yuan.

The city will build a comprehensive base for the smart network automotive electronics industry, with manufacturing companies that are newly introduced into the base eligible to receive a reward according to their fixed investments.

The document put forward that an experts think tank on the automobile industry in Guangzhou will be established to hold roundtable conferences regularly, carrying out discussions in pressing issues spanning graphene batteries, all solid state batteries, and ultralight materials.

New economy reshapes Guangzhou's future development pattern

 Update:2020-09-02    Source: chinadaily.com.cn

Guangzhou has been devoting efforts to developing its new economy to reshape its future development pattern in response to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and the complex economic situation.

Guangzhou has continued to be committed to opening up. By early August, it has opened four new international China-Europe freight train routes. The China-Europe freight trains have sent off 2,870 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs), up 44.08 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2020, with the cargo transported weighing 14,442 metric tons, increasing by 63.43 percent.

The trade between Guangzhou and ASEAN countries has seen prosperous development since 2020 as the import and export volume between the two sides grew by 21.7 percent to 68.4 billion yuan ($10.03 billion) in the first half of 2020.

The city has also seen a full recovery of the exhibition industry following the disruption caused by the COVID-19 epidemic earlier in the year. Luo Zheng, an official from the Guangzhou municipal commerce bureau, said that the exhibition halls in Guangzhou's Pazhou area have undertaken more than 50 exhibitions from early July to Aug 25, attracting nearly 1 million exhibitors and visitors.

Guangzhou's total retail sales of consumer goods have seen sequential growth for three consecutive months since April.

Apart from developing its three traditional pillar industries, namely automobiles, petrochemicals, and electronic information manufacturing, Guangzhou has been focusing on the development of the new generation of information technology, artificial intelligence, and biomedicine.

Guangzhou to hold international colloquium on Greater Bay Area development

 Update:2020-09-04    Source: Newsgd.com

An international colloquium (an important academic meeting to ask questions and create answers) on the economic development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is about to kick off on September 5th, during which global scholars will shed light into the industrial development after the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the emerging challenges of global trade.

Organized by the Guangdong University of Finance & Economic (GDUFE), the colloquium will have 14 high-profile scholars from the Greater Bay Area, US, UK and Australia to present on topics closely related to the GBA development and post-pandemic economy.

Yu Haifeng, President of GDUFE, said this is the fourth year for the university to organize the colloquium but the first year to hold it online due to the ongoing global pandemic. “The colloquium has already attracted great attention in academia because countries are seeking effective strategies to revitalize the economy while the development of Greater Bay Area, a major engine of China’s economy, is gradually coming back on track.”

According to Yu, the participants are either representative scholars involving in global bay area research or entrepreneurs with working experience in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. “I believe our brainstorming will actively contribute to regional development and our global partnership,” said Yu.

Shen Minghao, Director of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Research Center of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies said he would discuss about the possibilities to build the Greater Bay Area an engine to drive the fourth industrial revolution at the colloquium. “I will focus on how to make good use of the resources in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao and attract the world’s top-notch designers, researchers and producers of the intelligence industry.”

Shen Minghao considered this as a prospective topic as the fourth industrial revolution is about to come and the intelligence industry has been a global trend. “The Greater Bay Area is a major manufacturing center for intelligent hardware. If we look at the cellphone industry, the output in the Greater Bay Area takes up 60 percent of the total production in China and 40 percent around the globe. The area has also fostered a series of global brands such as Huawei, Tencent and DJI.”

Huang Qingan, Dean of International Business School of GDUFE, said universities provides an important platform for international exchanges. Teachers and students of the Greater Bay Area have the nature advantage to connect with global counterparts. He hopes people could seize opportunities to embrace the world and contribute to international communication and cooperation.