Zhongshan's Annual Investment Fair Focuses on Building the Greater Bay Area by Innovation-driven Development

ZHONGSHAN, China, March 28, 2018 /CNW/ -- On March 28, the 2018 Zhongshan Trade, Investment and Top Talent Fair and the Fifth Top Talent Networking Zhongshan kicked off under the theme of "Innovation Spearheads Development and Collective Wisdom Shapes Bay Area", drawing 1,000 participants from more than 10 countries and regions.

The accumulating innovative elements and collective wisdom have enabled Zhongshan to further contribute to the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, with its competitiveness in geographical location, industries, innovation and living environment.

This year, investment attracting was more aligned with the city's core objective -- to steer the economy towards high-quality development driven by innovation. The opening ceremony of the Fair saw the signing of a cluster of projects, including Tianhe Super-computing Pattern Recognition and AI Team, 3D Bio-printing Center for Precision Medicine, Siasun Intelligent Manufacturing Research Institution and HKUST-Zhongshan Joint Innovation Center, signaling new drivers of growth in gathering innovative resources, transforming and upgrading in industrial sectors, and deepening cooperation within the Greater Bay Area.

According to Lei Yuelong, vice mayor of Zhongshan, the city aims to build itself into a world-class base for advanced manufacturing, regional transportation hub, industrial innovation center and notable historic and
cultural city. The Fair, sticking to those goals, helps bring in teams specializing in technological innovation, carriers for research and development, inspection and testing platforms, and projects of premium productive services and cultural tourism from overseas.

The Fair consisted of 20 themed sessions, including Partnering Forum on Zhongshan Intelligent Manufacturing and International Industrial Cooperation, Seminar on Overseas Talent and Technological Project Cooperation, etc., to help increase connectivity among industries, technologies, projects, talents and professional teams.

Over recent years, Zhongshan has yielded fruitful results in drawing talents through the signature event of Top Talent Networking Zhongshan and introduction of 18 new talent-oriented policies. Statistics show that the past four talent networking events, with 47 special sessions, drew 23 academicians, 100 figures from China's Recruitment Program of Global Experts and 136,000 global talents. Up to 220 talent cooperation projects were signed, some involving bringing in teams of academicians.

By the end of 2017, Zhongshan had been home to a national entrepreneurship park for overseas students, 26 business incubators at city and township levels, 43 working platforms for post-doctorate fellows and 88 cooperation platforms for colleges and universities outside Zhongshan. Beyond that, there are two overseas talent workstations (in Boston and Silicon Valley), ten national innovation platforms and their branches, ten academician workstations and 29 master technician workrooms. Statistics relating to drawing professionals have all hit record highs, demonstrating the city's strong network of high-caliber personnel in its sustained economic and social development.

SOURCE The Organizing Committee of the Zhongshan Trade, Investment and Top Talent Fair

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