Robots work on the assembly line at one of Guangzhou Mino Equipment's factories in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. ZHENG ERQI/CHINA DAILY

Over the past decade, Skymen's business expansion has mirrored the development of Guangdong－which has transformed itself from the world's factory into a technology hub－with science and technology enterprises playing an important role in the province's efforts to create a new development pattern.

The total number of high-tech companies in Guangdong exceeded 60,000 last year, ranking first in the country for the sixth consecutive year, according to data from the provincial department of science and technology.

"A number of leading science and technology enterprises that are internationally competitive have emerged, and a number of hard and core technology companies in emerging industries have become the backbone of the province's high-quality economic development," said Gong Guoping, director of the Department of Science and Technology of Guangdong.

The province has also made efforts to strengthen weak areas in basic scientific research and accelerate its cultivation of strategic emerging industries, according to Gong.

Inside a production workshop at Midea Group, a Chinese home appliance giant based in Foshan, Guangdong, lines of industrial robots perform operations while two uniformed technicians monitor the work on a digital screen.

Midea, which currently owns four factories included in the Global Lighthouse Network of the World Economic Forum, has transformed from a traditional home appliance manufacturing company into a benchmark company for digital and innovative products over the past decade.

By the end of last year, the annual revenue generated by Midea, which started its digital transformation in 2011, had increased 156 percent, and its net profit had risen 333 percent, according to the company.

Guangdong has promoted the digital transformation of about 22,500 major industrial enterprises, a number the province hopes will grow to 50,000 by 2025, according to the Guangdong Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology.

Science and technology have played an important role not only in the traditional manufacturing sector, but also in other areas ranging from transportation and logistics to finance and retail over the past decade in Guangdong.