The contract signing ceremony. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A special ceremony was held in the Guangzhou Development District on May 28, marking the commencement of 32 projects in the district and the contract-signing of another 19.

The projects involve public livelihood, Guangzhou's highlighted IAB (next generation of information technology, artificial intelligence, and biological medicine), NEM (new energy and materials) industries, and the high-end service industry. Costing a total of 50 billion yuan ($7.8 billion), these projects will yield a combined production value of 300 billion yuan.

The CS&S CBD headquarters project, costing 2 billion yuan, aims to build a high-end industrial cluster featuring blockchain technology. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Projects in the IAB, NEM, and advanced manufacturing industries account for 63 percent of all projects, demonstrating the Guangzhou Development District's attractiveness to businesses with advanced technology, innovative might, and promising development prospects. Many of the projects are taking the lead in their respective industries in China and even the world. For instance, the Jinjiang Optical Film project will help the district become China's leading LCD panel base with the most advanced technology, largest scale, and highest economic returns.

Carl Zeiss, a famous German optics products maker and optical systems developer, also eyed the Guangzhou Development District as it planned to invest one billion yuan into its optical industry ecosystem project. The company will build a high-end plant for new customized optical products and set up a cutting-edge manufacturing center for ophthalmic instruments.

The Yangchenggang Primary School project is one of the 13 livelihood projects that started construction in the Guangzhou Development District on May 28. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

 "We have five projects in the Guangzhou Development District, we are not putting all our eggs in one basket. For us, Guangzhou is a safe zone," said Lv Yunlei, general manager of Carl Zeiss China's high-end customized products machining center. Carl Zeiss settled in the Guangzhou Development District 20 years ago and the company has seen significant growth since then. "We owe it to the district's great preferential policies, which have convinced us to further invest in the region."