Guangzhou Development District bullish on building business incentives

Guangzhou Development District, also known as Huangpu district of Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, is offering a series of incentives centering on "financial services plus industrial space" to empower the high-quality development of local industries.

GDD officials recently revealed a pilot plan of "zero rent" to promote investment attraction and expansion in a bid to support the district's modern industrial system, and launched new measures to encourage finance to better serve high-quality development of the real economy.

"We are going all out to help enterprises overcome difficulties during critical phases such as starting up businesses, production capacity expansion, and technological research and development," Tang Keming, head of the GDD State-owned assets supervision and administration commission, said at a media conference.

"As a crucial part of the move, we have selected 150,000 square meters of industrial space owned by the district's State-owned enterprises to pilot the 'zero rent' initiative. For eligible enterprises, those signing contracts for three years or more can enjoy rent exemption in the first two years, while those signing for six years or more can be exempted from rent for the first three years," said Tang.

The pilot industrial spaces are designed for investment projects in strategic emerging industries and future industries, including intelligent connected and new energy vehicles, biomedicine and health, low-altitude economy and aerospace, artificial intelligence, new display technologies and integrated circuits.

The initiative particularly appeals to small and microtech businesses with innovative vitality and high growth potential. They include award-winning project teams from innovation and entrepreneurship competitions at the city level or higher or tech industry competitions held by major institutions, as well as startup projects headed by talents with independent intellectual property rights or on-duty technological achievements.

The new measures are aimed at lowering the barriers and costs for small and microenterprises engaging in innovation and entrepreneurship, helping them set sail in the wave of technological innovation.

While attracting high-quality projects with zero rent, the district is also assisting SOE-owned parks in creating a high-quality industrial ecosystem. The parks are empowered to explore diverse industrial space rental and sales supply models, including rent-for-equity, revenue sharing, and asset valuation equity to support local businesses' growth.

Within the parks, efforts are being made to enhance value-added supplementary services, such as finance and taxation, entrepreneurship guidance, investment and financing, and policy application support.

Value-added services

"Guangzhou High-tech Investment Group has established a biopharmaceutical industry service center at Guangzhou International Bio Island. This center provides value-added supplementary services such as initial public offering guidance, registration, and legal consultation for biopharmaceutical companies, aiding in their rapid growth within the park," Tang said.

Ma Lina, vice-president of Guangzhou Biotron Technology in the accelerator park of GDD Holding Group, said: "The zero rent policy provides highly attractive and timely support for tech startups like ours. It provides up to three years of partial rent exemption, which for companies like ours that require continuous and intensive investment in R&D, is expected to save us tens of millions of yuan. This valuable financial relief allows us to focus more on core product upgrades and market expansion, significantly easing our early-stage funding pressure."

As a key integrated service provider for the biopharmaceutical industry in the district, Guangzhou High-tech Investment Group is committed to being an industrial partner for enterprises. It has developed a multirole model as a landlord, shareholder and comprehensive service provider to offer full life cycle support and empowerment for businesses.

Akeso, a biopharmaceutical company, established a Guangzhou subsidiary in 2017, with its R&D headquarters set up at Guangzhou International Bio Island, according to Qiu Xiaofeng, deputy general manager of Guangzhou High-tech Investment Group.

"We greatly value and support such innovative domestic companies, and increased our investment in Akeso's Guangzhou manufacturing facility in 2018," said Qiu. "Subsequently, we have continued to provide strong financial support and value-added services through shareholder loans, financial leasing, policy consultations and industrial empowerment. Akeso has grown rapidly and went public in Hong Kong in 2020."

Industrial cluster

Several discounted industrial parks, which are owned by the district's SOEs, are also available. They offer preferential pricing to reduce the cost of business entry, accelerate industrial clustering and jointly promote the vitality of the regional economy.

At Guangzhou Science City, the Vtron Innovation Park, operated by a management company affiliated with Science City (Guangzhou) Investment Group, is one example. It has attracted a number of high-quality businesses, including branches of listed companies such as Runjian, Westone Information Industry, and NSFocus.

Nearly 20 specialized and innovative small enterprises, as well as high-tech companies such as Wise Security Technology (Guangzhou), Suntaq International, and IT Xinhe, have also settled in Vtron Innovation Park, along with GAC GAOO, a leader in the low-altitude mobility sector. This has created an industrial cluster led by the information technology industry, in synergy with future industries such as the low-altitude economy and AI.

The park currently offers amenities including restaurants, a basketball court and convenience stores. In the future, it plans to introduce additional facilities such as a gym, coffee shops and EV charging stations.

Although this park is uninvolved in the zero rent initiative, its rent policy will fully consider tenant needs based on the current market environment, offering flexible and competitive leasing options, said local officials. The park offers diverse spatial resources, including two floors of incubation space in Building 3, which also includes pilot production facilities. A full-chain spatial layout incorporating incubation, pilot production and mass production has been established, meeting the needs of enterprises at different development stages, said Zhu Jiaquan, chairman of the park's management company.

Building on the spatial layout, the park aims to become a cradle for fostering emerging industries and high-tech companies, Zhu said, adding that the incubator park has drawn in 31 startup companies, which can share park facilities such as a demo hall, conference rooms, break areas, and reception areas.

Key attractions

Robust infrastructure and efficient service are why many companies choose to settle in GDD. An education consulting company, which has moved into China Nano Valley at the GDD, values the "move-in ready "infrastructure and the butler services provided by SCI Group, operator of the park.

"While preparing for our summer camp, we urgently needed a dedicated space that could meet specific teaching requirements," said Tang Ziqiang, the company's chief financial officer. "After learning about our needs, SCI Group quickly coordinated to provide suitable space within China Nano Valley and assisted us in customizing it. This timely support demonstrated their service philosophy of being 'not just landlords, but partners'."

GDD Holding Group integrates technological finance, strategic investment and park operations into a synergistic closed-loop ecosystem to inject innovative momentum into policies.

Xu Xiao, deputy general manager of GDD Holding Group, said: "We will leverage strategic investment to share resources and offer tailor-made services according to the enterprise life cycle — connecting startups with funds and providing financing solutions during the growth phase. Additionally, we will accelerate the recoupment of funds through capital operations such as real estate investment trust arrangements, which will, in turn, support the development and investment attraction of new parks, forming a positive cycle of 'operation-value increase-reinvestment'."

Yao Qihong, government affairs manager at the southern headquarters of Sino Biopharmaceutical, was impressed by the service density and cooperation depth of Guangzhou High-tech Investment Group. This was also the key reason why its subsidiary, Chia Tai Tianqing Pharmaceutical Group, ultimately chose to establish roots here.

"From the site selection and inspection to actual settlement, and even in proposing the dual-circulation strategy of acquiring advanced overseas pipelines and converting them domestically, Guangzhou High-tech Investment Group formed dedicated task forces to provide high-density services combining online policy interpretation and offline site visits, truly catering to the needs of the enterprises," Yao said.