On February 18, 2024, the first day after the Spring Festival of the Year of Loong in China, Guangdong once again held the “Guangdong Province High-quality Development Conference”. Guangdong’s “First Conference of Spring” focuses for two consecutive years on the same theme, which shows the province’s emphasis on promoting high-quality development.

Guangdong’s economic strength surged in 2023, and the province’s regional GDP has broken through 13 trillion yuan, ranking first in the country for 35 consecutive years. Its industrial fundaments are solid, making it the largest manufacturing province in the country and an important manufacturing base in the world. There are more than 71,000 industrial enterprises above the specific scale, more than 75,000 high-tech enterprises, and more than 1,500 SNEs of “small giants”. The level of its scientific and technological innovation is high and Guangdong has been the reigning champion in the country in respect of the comprehensive capacity of regional innovation for 7 consecutive years. The number of its R&D personnel, the effective amount of invention patents, the number of high-value invention patents, the number of effective registered trademarks, and the number of PCT international patent applications all rank first in the country.

In the context of the new round of scientific and technological revolution and the accelerated evolution of industrial reform, Guangdong is deeply aware of the urgent need to promote industrial innovation with scientific and technological innovation in order to realize the mutual promotion of industry and science and technology, and to inject new momentum and add new advantages for high-quality development. In 2024, Guangdong will focus on the theme of high-quality development as industrial science and technology, adhere to the scientific and technological innovation on the enterprise, industry, development, focus on the service manufacturing industry and the real economy, and strive to seize the industrial development opportunities.

Talents are the key of technological innovation. The Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering announced in November 2023 the results of the additional election of academicians that year, where Guangdong ushered in a “great harvest”. Among them, there are not only Ma Jun, He Hongping, Zheng Hairong, Xing Feng, and Liu Chao, who have gradually grown up in Guangdong, but also well-known scientists such as Yan Ning, president of the Shenzhen Medical Academy of Research and Translation (SMART), and Han Enhou, director of the ICOST Guangdong, who have been attracted by Guangdong’s environment of scientific innovation and have come to lead the construction of scientific research institutions.

As a major province of finance, Guangdong has preliminarily established a science and technology financial service system, and continuously strengthened its support for the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry as well as the construction of a strong province of science and technology innovation. In 2023, the growth rate of loans to manufacturing enterprises, high-tech enterprises and science and technology enterprises in the province was more than twice the average growth rate of credit. The enterprises in manufacturing as well as science and technology have received financing aids of 1.2 trillion yuan, reaching a record high.

2024 shall witness the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Guangdong will unswervingly promote the high-quality development and “strive” to make Guangdong’s future better.