Seize the Opportunities Presented by the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Promote Science and Technology Innovation and Development in Macao
Ma Chi Ngai Frederico
26/02/2019
The development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Greater Bay Area) is a national strategy planned, deployed and promoted by General Secretary Xi Jinping. It is a new measure to promote the formation of a new comprehensive opening-up pattern in the new era and a new practice to promote the principle "one country, two systems". In February of this year, the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area(hereinafter as the “Outline Development Plan”) was officially promulgated, which comprehensively described the development blueprint of the Greater Bay Area.
The Outline Development Planprioritizes scientific and technological innovation, and proposes to develop the Greater Bay Area into an international innovation and technology hub, with comprehensive elaboration on the relevant meanings, connotations, conditions, obstacles and safeguard measures.
The Greater Bay Area is well-positioned to build an international innovation and technology hub
The international innovation and technology hub to be built in the Greater Bay Area will have the "Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macau" science and technology innovation corridor as its main axis. Each city in the Greater Bay Area has its own unique positioning and the production, education and research related to the establishment of the international innovation and technology hub is well-organized: there are a number of universities and research institutes with such top-ranking and scientific research strengths as the University of Hong Kong, numerous game-changing companies such as Tencent and Huawei, innovative unicorns such as DJI and SenseTime, and a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises with strong sense and competence to innovate.
Building an international innovation and technology hub with institutional innovation
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has the uniqueness of “one country, two systems, three tariff zones, four core cities”, and this greatly complementary uniqueness can only be realized through institutional innovation.
As the department of the Macao SAR government to promote the development of science and technology, we are very pleased to see that the promotion of institutional innovation is prioritized in the Outline Development Plan, and that such innovation is taking place. Last year, the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China implemented a series of measures to expand the Centrally-Financed S&T Funds to Hong Kong and Macao, which now receives application from Hong Kong and Macao researchers as a pilot. Moreover, it allowed Hong Kong and Macao can independently set up a series of measures for State Key Laboratories. On the basis of the Outline Development Plan, the Development Plan of the International Innovation and Technology Hub in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is also being constructed. We believe that with the implementation of the Outline Development Plan, institutional innovations at different levels will take place one after another, and the obstacles that hinder the exchange of scientific research personnel and the flow and integration of innovative elements within the Greater Bay Area will gradually be overcome.
Building an international innovation and technology hub is a rare opportunity for Macao's science and technology development
In mid-June last year, President Xi Jinping replied to all university teachers and students of Macao through the Research Office of the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, affirming the new progress made in Macao's scientific and technological innovation and encouraging Macao to moderately diversify its economy and participate in the development of the Greater Bay Area. President Xi’s reply further strengthened Macao’s confidence in developing scientific and technological innovation. The SAR Government’s budget for science and technology development in 2019 has increased significantly, and it has proposed to launch research on the development strategy of science and technology innovation and formulate tax incentives to encourage scientific research and innovation. A solid step has been taken in our institutional innovation.
After years of development, Macao has developed strong advantage in the fields of traditional Chinese medicine, chip design, space science, Internet of Things, advanced materials, artificial intelligence and precision medicine, and has great potential in the construction of the international innovation and technology hub. Our participation in the science and technology cooperation in Greater Bay Area can center on the following aspects: building a high-level research platform for participating in the construction of joint laboratories of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, and promoting cross-regional industry-university-research cooperation; combining the advantages of our exchange platform for Portuguese-speaking countries and the “Belt and Road” and the convention and exhibition industry to serve international technology transfer within the Greater Bay Area; giving full play to the external advantages of the Traditional Chinese medicine Science and Technology Industrial Park of Co-operation between Guangdong and Macao to promote the internationalization of Chinese medicine; promoting the joint development of smart city clusters for a smart Greater Bay Area.
Among them, building a high-level research platform and improving the hard power of Macao's technology is the key. Macao is now the only city in western Guangdong with multiple State Key Laboratories. We have established four State Key Laboratories since the establishment of the SAR, namely the State Key Lab of Quality Research in Chinese Medicines, the State Key Lab of Analog and Mixed-Signal VLSI, the State Key Lab of Lunar and Planetary Sciences, and the State Key Lab of Internet of Things for Smart City. The formation of a technological highland through the research platform, combined with the mainland market and industrialization support, will increase our ability to export technology and services to the Greater Bay Area, especially to the west bank of the Pearl River. Macao has the potential to become an internationally influential technology innovation base at the west bank of Pearl River.
In order for Macao to achieve the above objectives, the SAR Government will continue to increase its efforts to support existing and new high-level research platforms, provide them with more financial support, so that the laboratories can attract more talent and purchase high-end scientific research equipment, remain at the same high level, and have more manpower and material resources to invest in the industrialization of the project results. The SAR government should also invest resources to support the laboratories in building research and development centers with the enterprises in the Greater Bay Area as a foundation for the next step of result commercialization. At the same time, the SAR Government will continue to optimize its policies closely related to technological development through institutional innovation, and strives to bring more national-level research platforms and international science and technology cooperation projects to Macao.
In the new era, the SAR Government and the Macao science and technology community need to have more achievements before we can seize the opportunities presented by the development of the Greater Bay Area’s international innovation and technology hub, promote Macao's innovation, and contribute to building China into a world-class science and technology superpower.
The Outline Development Planprioritizes scientific and technological innovation, and proposes to develop the Greater Bay Area into an international innovation and technology hub, with comprehensive elaboration on the relevant meanings, connotations, conditions, obstacles and safeguard measures.
The Greater Bay Area is well-positioned to build an international innovation and technology hub
The international innovation and technology hub to be built in the Greater Bay Area will have the "Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macau" science and technology innovation corridor as its main axis. Each city in the Greater Bay Area has its own unique positioning and the production, education and research related to the establishment of the international innovation and technology hub is well-organized: there are a number of universities and research institutes with such top-ranking and scientific research strengths as the University of Hong Kong, numerous game-changing companies such as Tencent and Huawei, innovative unicorns such as DJI and SenseTime, and a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises with strong sense and competence to innovate.
Building an international innovation and technology hub with institutional innovation
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has the uniqueness of “one country, two systems, three tariff zones, four core cities”, and this greatly complementary uniqueness can only be realized through institutional innovation.
As the department of the Macao SAR government to promote the development of science and technology, we are very pleased to see that the promotion of institutional innovation is prioritized in the Outline Development Plan, and that such innovation is taking place. Last year, the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China implemented a series of measures to expand the Centrally-Financed S&T Funds to Hong Kong and Macao, which now receives application from Hong Kong and Macao researchers as a pilot. Moreover, it allowed Hong Kong and Macao can independently set up a series of measures for State Key Laboratories. On the basis of the Outline Development Plan, the Development Plan of the International Innovation and Technology Hub in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is also being constructed. We believe that with the implementation of the Outline Development Plan, institutional innovations at different levels will take place one after another, and the obstacles that hinder the exchange of scientific research personnel and the flow and integration of innovative elements within the Greater Bay Area will gradually be overcome.
Building an international innovation and technology hub is a rare opportunity for Macao's science and technology development
In mid-June last year, President Xi Jinping replied to all university teachers and students of Macao through the Research Office of the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, affirming the new progress made in Macao's scientific and technological innovation and encouraging Macao to moderately diversify its economy and participate in the development of the Greater Bay Area. President Xi’s reply further strengthened Macao’s confidence in developing scientific and technological innovation. The SAR Government’s budget for science and technology development in 2019 has increased significantly, and it has proposed to launch research on the development strategy of science and technology innovation and formulate tax incentives to encourage scientific research and innovation. A solid step has been taken in our institutional innovation.
After years of development, Macao has developed strong advantage in the fields of traditional Chinese medicine, chip design, space science, Internet of Things, advanced materials, artificial intelligence and precision medicine, and has great potential in the construction of the international innovation and technology hub. Our participation in the science and technology cooperation in Greater Bay Area can center on the following aspects: building a high-level research platform for participating in the construction of joint laboratories of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, and promoting cross-regional industry-university-research cooperation; combining the advantages of our exchange platform for Portuguese-speaking countries and the “Belt and Road” and the convention and exhibition industry to serve international technology transfer within the Greater Bay Area; giving full play to the external advantages of the Traditional Chinese medicine Science and Technology Industrial Park of Co-operation between Guangdong and Macao to promote the internationalization of Chinese medicine; promoting the joint development of smart city clusters for a smart Greater Bay Area.
Among them, building a high-level research platform and improving the hard power of Macao's technology is the key. Macao is now the only city in western Guangdong with multiple State Key Laboratories. We have established four State Key Laboratories since the establishment of the SAR, namely the State Key Lab of Quality Research in Chinese Medicines, the State Key Lab of Analog and Mixed-Signal VLSI, the State Key Lab of Lunar and Planetary Sciences, and the State Key Lab of Internet of Things for Smart City. The formation of a technological highland through the research platform, combined with the mainland market and industrialization support, will increase our ability to export technology and services to the Greater Bay Area, especially to the west bank of the Pearl River. Macao has the potential to become an internationally influential technology innovation base at the west bank of Pearl River.
In order for Macao to achieve the above objectives, the SAR Government will continue to increase its efforts to support existing and new high-level research platforms, provide them with more financial support, so that the laboratories can attract more talent and purchase high-end scientific research equipment, remain at the same high level, and have more manpower and material resources to invest in the industrialization of the project results. The SAR government should also invest resources to support the laboratories in building research and development centers with the enterprises in the Greater Bay Area as a foundation for the next step of result commercialization. At the same time, the SAR Government will continue to optimize its policies closely related to technological development through institutional innovation, and strives to bring more national-level research platforms and international science and technology cooperation projects to Macao.
In the new era, the SAR Government and the Macao science and technology community need to have more achievements before we can seize the opportunities presented by the development of the Greater Bay Area’s international innovation and technology hub, promote Macao's innovation, and contribute to building China into a world-class science and technology superpower.
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Office hours: Monday to Thursday: 9:00-13:00, 14:30-17:45；Friday: 9:00-13:00, 14:30-17:30；Tel.: 28788777
Copyright(C) 2021 ALL right reserved.