Valley strategy will strengthen oceanic industries

Zhanjiang authorities plan to strengthen the city's oceanic industries with innovation under a plan called the Southern Maritime Valley.

The strategy was listed in June 2014 as a key program in the Guangdong provincial strategy for deepening scientific and technological system reform and accelerating innovation-driven development.

The Southern Maritime Valley, located around Zhanjiang Bay, will highlight innovation in scientific and technological management systems and smoother connections between research and industry.

It is intended to serve the national strategy of becoming a maritime power, the industrial clusters on Donghai Island, the Fenyong Economic Zone and six industrial clusters of the city, namely steel-making, petrochemicals, paper-making, and the manufacture of home appliances, pharmaceuticals and aquatic products.

It will help develop strategic new industries for the city, which involve industrial robots, cold chain logistics, information consumption, biological pharmaceuticals and a circular economy.

The project is also aimed at facilitating the integration of innovation and industrial and capital chains.

The Southern Maritime Valley is seen as important in advancing industrial clustering and lifting the industrial competitiveness of Zhanjiang.

The government is drawing up the overall plan, seeking closer cooperation with national-level institutes of higher learning and research institutes, establishing an administrative organization and selecting the location for the core zone. The startup zone is situated in Xiashan district.

The policies will include plans to attract talented staff and innovation teams, and offer taxation and administrative charge incentives to innovative companies and upgrades in public services.

Zhanjiang has five institutes of higher learning, second only in Guangdong province to Guangzhou. It has 63 vocational schools, nine provincial-level labs, 13 provincial-level engineering centers, and more than 90 corporate research and development institutions.

Since last year, four incubators have been approved, with a total area of 120,000 square meters, and capable of accommodating more than 8,000 people.

An incubator building was jointly launched in June by the city's science and technology bureau and bureau of human resources and social security. Forty-five innovation teams are using facilities in that building.

liwenfang@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 03/28/2015 page19)