Global sci-tech innovation elites gather to share opportunities from the 
Greater Bay Area

Over 300 most influential global industry leaders convened in the Nansha 
district of Guangzhou, China from November 18 to 20 for the second East Tech 
West, a global forum organized by CNBC. Its focus is on the innovation and 
development of such industries of 5G and smart city, AI, transportation, 
fintech and healthcare. Executives and sci-tech innovators from IBM, NASDAQ, 
Huawei, JD.com, Ant Financial and other companies shared their insights at more 
than 35 fireside chats, panel discussions and workshops. Not only has the 
sharing allowed all to imagine the upcoming global technologies and the future, 
but also put Nansha in the world spotlight as it pools innovation resources for 
quality development and innovative ecosystem.

The 2019 Global Innovation Index published by the World Intellectual Property 
Organization (WIPO) this July ranked China 14th after four years of climbing. 
In WIPO's analysis, global innovation is in the ascendant and major economies 
like China moving up the list has delivered a new global innovation landscape 
despite a world economic slowdown. 

As China's forerunner of opening up and innovation, Guangzhou is creating a 
sound environment for innovation to facilitate the free flow of innovation 
factors and gather high-end technological elements from across the world. 
Beyond that, it has emerged as one of the leading global sources of innovation 
by leveraging the opportunities brought by the construction of the 
Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

At the event's sci-tech section, the LED chips, smart robots, carved products 
and others promoted by such Nansha-based high-tech firms as APT Electronics, 
Dorabot and Bona Robot took attendees' fancy.

"We have seen innovation resources cluster at a faster pace. Two major sci-tech 
innovation platforms-Nansha Science Town and Hong Kong University of Science 
and Technology (Guangzhou)-broke ground on September 26. On top of that, more 
than 170 AI companies, over 140 life health firms, and NEV projects by Toyota 
and Evergrande have been inaugurated in Nansha, which is also home to the 
unicorns of CloudWalk and pony.ai," said Cai Chaolin, secretary of CPC Nansha 
District Committee at the opening ceremony.

By speeding up progress for pooling innovation resources worldwide, Nansha is 
seeing a thriving cluster of emerging industries, incessantly unleashing 
innovation vigor to the world.

According to a spokesperson from the People's Government of Nansha District, 
besides sci-tech innovation companies, a host of platforms ensuring quality 
development for enterprises have contributed to an improved climate for 
innovation and coordinated development of industries, academia and research 
institutes in Nansha. Multiple major platforms for sci-tech innovation, 
including South Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, 
National-level Headquarters Base for Combustible Ice Research, IPV6 
International Root Server, Guangzhou International Institute of Artificial 
Intelligence, and iFlytek South China Institute of Artificial Intelligence, are 
laying solid groundwork for the development of sci-tech innovation in Nansha.

Nansha has immense potential for growth and holds a key position in the 
building of the Greater Bay Area with an advantageous geographical location, 
said Max Raven, senior vice president of CNBC Catalyst. On the day leading up 
to East Tech West 2019, the home port for Nansha International Cruise started 
operation. It is thus fair to say Nansha is at the center of the sea-land-air 
transport system.

With a blend of innovation resources and prime location, the environments for 
doing business and promoting innovation in Nansha become better. The recent 
launch of an AI platform in Nansha has ensured the face-scanning service to be 
offered in government services, transportation, travel, consumption and 
education. After the pioneering reform of business registration and 
confirmation system, it takes just ten minutes to complete business 
registration, rivaling New Zealand and other countries and regions with highest 
efficiency in this regard.

Innovation plays the most fundamental part in the development of Nansha while 
driving its future growth. In a third-party assessment's simulation ranking, 
Nansha will be listed top 25 globally this year in terms of business 
environment.

The building of the Greater Bay Area is now in its full swing. Nansha, as a 
state-level new area and pilot free trade area, has been on a mission to 
develop a demonstration zone for comprehensive cooperation among Guangdong, 
Hong Kong and Macao, which will bring about significant development 
opportunities.

According to CNBC International's president KC Sullivan, this year's event not 
just continued the tradition of discussing fintech, AI, 5G and smart city, but 
paid special attention to the development of the Greater Bay Area. He was 
hopeful that more and more global companies could share their development 
opportunities.

Source: The People's Government of Nansha District