Guangzhou has won a total of 136 prizes at the 2019 Guangdong Technological Invention Awards held during the Guangdong Science and Technology Innovation Conference in Guangzhou on March 25, amounting for 76 percent of the total number of prizes given and ranking first in Guangdong province.

In addition, the city has won 26 prizes at the 2019 National Science and Technology Award Conference, setting a record high.

Guangzhou has devoted great efforts in recent years in making breakthroughs in key areas spanning the new generation of information technology, artificial intelligence, biomedicine, new energy, new materials, and marine technology.

Liang Jianing, a first-level researcher from the Guangzhou municipal science and technology bureau, noted that Guangzhou has moved up in the global ranking for innovation clusters from its previous ranking of 63rd to its 2019 ranking of 21st.

The number of high-tech companies in Guangzhou exceeds 12,000, of which 10 have been recognized as national incubators, both ranking first in China. The technical contract turnover in Guangzhou has increased from about 35.7 billion yuan ($5.03 billion) in 2017 to 127.3 billion yuan in 2019.

Liang added that the agglomeration effect of scientific research resources in Guangzhou has contributed greatly to the city's science innovation development.