Guangdong Special: Province set to become 'key innovational pivot'

GUANGZHOU: The southern Chinese province of Guangdong is gearing up for major developments in its new and hi-tech industrial sectors.

The province's plan is to boost its R&D capital inputs to make up 2.5 percent of the province's GDP, as compared to 1.39 percent at present. It also aims to have around 280,000 R&D professionals working in the area by the year 2012 in a bid to achieve a new and hi-tech industrial output of 3.8 trillion yuan a year, according to Huang Huahua, governor of Guangdong.

The province's capital inputs in R&D were worth 49 billion yuan in 2008, 93.2 percent of which came from the business sector. Some 229,000 people were involved in R&D activities during the same period. The figure for 2008 represents a rise of 21 percent over 2007.