Area puts its weight behind innovation

Shenzhen's Nanshan has made great progress in scientific and technological innovation, leading to a rising number of innovative startups in the district.

Anaerial photo of Shenzhen Bay. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Taking innovation as an important driver for its high-quality development, Nanshan district has achieved breakthroughs in multiple fields of technology, including microchip design and manufacture, artificial intelligence, bio-pharmaceutical and new-generation information technology, according to the local government.

The district has 3,579 state-level high-tech enterprises and 162 listed companies, and research and development spend in Nanshan accounts for 4.71 percent of its GDP.

DJI, the world's largest commercial drone maker by market share, is headquartered in Nanshan district.

Through continuous innovation, DJI is committed to providing intelligent flight control products and solutions with advanced performance for the unmanned aerial vehicle industry, its users and professional aerial photography applications, the company said.

Its technologies and products have been widely used in aerial photography, remote sensing mapping, forest fire prevention, power line inspection, as well as search and rescue.

Founded in 2006, the drone maker has attracted customers from more than 100 countries worldwide.

DJI won a spot on a list of the world's top 10 AI enterprises in 2019, with Baidu ranking fourth, following Microsoft, Google and Facebook, according to a report released by the Chinese Academy of Science in January.

Hytera, a local innovative enterprise growing in Nanshan, has developed into a leading telecommunications company in China's private network communication industry.

Attaching great importance to its R&D to secure favorable development, the telecommunications company has recruited more than 3,000 R&D professionals, accounting for 40 percent of its total staff members. The company has also established 10 R&D centers around the world as of the end of 2019.

An executive at Hytera said that the achievements made by the company in innovative development have benefited from Nanshan's strong atmosphere of innovation.

In addition, the Nanshan district regularly holds entrepreneurship competitions to incubate technology startups and help accelerate their development.

Initiated by the local government and Shenzhen Municipal Science and Technology Innovation Committee, the competitions aim to promote the integration of all kinds of innovation resources and create the best entrepreneurship ecosystem possible.

Debuted in 2008, the contest has attracted innovation-driven companies and maker teams from home and abroad and its influence and coverage have expanded year by year.

In the past dozen years, a total of 19,587 innovative projects have been registered, of which 3,301 are overseas projects, and all of the 698 award-winners have settled in the district.

Meanwhile, the event has drawn investments exceeding 4.2 billion yuan ($592.89 million) for more than 350 projects, contributing more than 20 billion yuan to the district’s GDP.

Based in Nanshan but facing the world, the enterprise contest selects innovative projects with strong potential and assists them in joining hands with scientific research institutions and universities, to promote the optimization and upgrading of Nanshan's innovation and entrepreneurship environment, according to an official with the Nanshan Science and Technology Innovation Bureau.