The prefecture-level city of Maoming in South China's Guangdong province has been noticeably advancing its innovation-driven development strategy in recent few years, reportedly achieving great results in scientific and technological development.

It is estimated that the city has won the most provincial-level science and technology awards in the eastern, western and northern parts of Guangdong for five consecutive years, placing it among the  the top six award winners in the entire province for four consecutive years.

At the provincial science and technology innovation conference in 2020 alone, the city won eight provincial science and technology awards -- including two first prizes and six second prizes -- ranking it fifth overall in Guangdong and first in the eastern, western and northern parts of the province.

A project from Maoming won second prize for national equipment technology innovation achievement, making it the only one in the field of equipment design and manufacturing in the province to win such an award.

Last year, the city organized and implemented 127 national and provincial-level science and technology projects, winning over 57 million yuan ($8.75 million) in financial support and leading to breakthroughs being made in a number of key industrial technologies.

Resident company Maoming Gravity Petrochemical Equipment Co Ltd plays an important part in the city's advances in scientific and technological innovation. [Photo/WeChat account: maofabu]

Not long after the COVID-19 pandemic broke out at the start of 2020, the Maoming science and technology bureau launched nine epidemic prevention science and technology emergency projects and allocated 1.3 million yuan in funding.

To top it off, the H1N1 virus strain isolated by the Maoming Center for Disease Control and Prevention was included on the World Health Organization's recommendations list for the 2020-21 flu season in the northern hemisphere. It was the only one on the Chinese mainland that was included on the recommendations list.

In addition, a number of expert teams have been relocated to Maoming. To date, there are 14 provincial-level workstations operating there for enterprises, experts and academicians – as well as  two provincial postdoctoral scientific research workstations, 11 doctoral workstations, seven provincial postdoctoral innovation practice bases and three provincial high-level innovation teams.

That has led to tangible results. The city won one first prize, three third prizes and 10 other prizes for excellence at the provincial competition of the ninth China Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition last year. That number of awards ranked it third in the province.