Knowledge city regulations reassure investors, researchers and top talents

Newly released regulations on the development of the China-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City will provide a strong legal guarantee for the local market, promote the business environment and build the knowledge city into an area with global influence, said local officials at a news conference on Feb 23.

China has four national bilateral cooperation projects with Singapore. As the first provincial legislative basis for such a bilateral project, the regulations were adopted by the 39th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th Guangdong Provincial People's Congress on Jan 16 and will come into force on March 1.

Legislative guarantee

Founded in 2010, the China-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City was upgraded to a China-Singapore national bilateral cooperation project in November 2018.

In August 2020, the State Council approved the China-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City Overall Development Plan (2020-35), which proposes to build the area into a national knowledge center with global influence.

Chen Yongkang, deputy director of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress, said at the news conference that the regulations provide a legal guarantee for the construction and development of the knowledge city.

It is mainly based on the needs to support innovation, provide a solid guarantee for the market and international business environment and help Guangzhou boost vitality in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25).

The regulations have six chapters and 47 articles, which stipulate overall support for the construction and development of the knowledge city; technological innovation and intellectual property protection; knowledge-intensive industry development and talent support; opening-up and cooperation; and services and guarantees.

It reflects the position to build a new highland for knowledge creation, a free port for international talents and a demonstration area for open cooperation.

Greater management

Chen said that the primary task of the knowledge city legislation is to transform the policy basis into a legal basis through legal procedures, support the knowledge city to deepen the reform, carry out the first trial, and give greater management authority to the area for innovation and development.

The regulations grant a green channel for IP applications; the opening of a patent agency field; the expansion of the financial industry; a green application channel for new research and development institutions; the decentralization of professional title evaluation; and land supply and security.

Liao Ronghui, director of the legal affairs committee of the Guangzhou city people's congress, said that in the next step, the standing committee of the city congress will carry out publicity and interpretation of the regulations; strengthen the guarantee of implementation of regulations; and revise and improve relevant local regulations in Guangzhou in a timely manner.

Building an IP highland

Scientific and technological innovation and IP protection are key chapters of the regulations. After 11 years of development, the knowledge city grasps the "golden key" of IP protection with one hand and holds up the "hard fist" of technological innovation with the other.

According to the regulations, the knowledge city aims to improve the scientific and technological innovation system; strengthen the protection of IP rights; develop the IP service industry and create a global IP highland.

"With the implementation of the regulations, the knowledge city will promote the development of knowledge-intensive industries," said Chen Zhiyong, deputy Party secretary of Huangpu district in Guangzhou, which is home to the knowledge city.

"The knowledge-intensive enterprises are also IP-intensive enterprises. The demands for property rights protection, operation and services are also relatively strong."

So far, the knowledge city has gathered intellectual property protection institutions, such as Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court and Guangzhou Intellectual Property Arbitration Court. Among the first batch of Singaporean scientific research companies that have settled in the knowledge city, Biosyngen is a model project of the China-Singapore cooperation in the field of biomedicine.

Jean-Paul Thiery, chief scientific adviser and chairman of the scientific committee of Biosyngen, said that the regulations show the determination of the government to protect IP rights, as well as the respect to and protection of scientific researchers. "The knowledge city's favorable investment environment, efficient and advanced management concepts and methods have given us a strong sense of belonging, security and gain," he said.

Talent support

The regulations strengthen the unique advantages of Sino-Singaporean cooperation and promote the knowledge city to cooperate with Singapore in areas such as scientific and technological innovation; industrial development; IP rights; talent training; urban governance and the business environment.

The regulations propose that knowledge cities should build a knowledge-intensive industry system focusing on the development of major industries.

These include biomedicine and big health; new-generation information technology; new material and new energy; science and education service; digital creative industry, intelligent manufacturing and the integrated circuit industry.

Knowledge-intensive industries are closely tied to talent support. The regulations state that the knowledge city should launch the talent management mechanism and create a free port for international talents.

It includes measures such as supporting scientific research institutes to jointly run schools or talent training programs in the area and setting up special funds for talent development.

The administrative committee of the knowledge city has also built a one-stop talent service hall, improved its inclusive and fair housing security system and expanded the coverage of housing security for talents.

It established the country's first Overseas Talents Innovation and Entrepreneurship Zero Movement service center, which has been approved as the city's first national innovation and entrepreneurship base for overseas talents.

The knowledge city has gathered a team of top talents led by 24 academicians, including Wang Xiaodong and Shi Yigong, trained more than 3,400 postgraduates and more than 1,000 high-end applied talents.

Li Honglang, deputy director of the National Nanotechnology Innovation Research Institute of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, paid attention to the talent policy in the regulations.

He believes that the introduction and support of talents in the regulations include not only innovations in management systems, but practical incentives and services.

"In the key innovation projects subsidized by the government, innovation leaders will be given the right to control human resources and property and the right to decide the technical route. This regulation expands the autonomy of scientific and technological leaders, enabling chief scientists and their teams to devote themselves to scientific research, which is conducive to exploring new models for training and securing the top talents," Li said.