Xiangzhou District, Zhuhai

Several of Zhuhai's 1,478 High-Technology Enterprises were awarded for their outstanding business capabilities at the 2017 FIT Guangdong Scientific Innovation Pioneer Contest held in Guangzhou on May 12.

The event was co-sponsored by the China Construction Bank (CCB) Fintech Innovation Center and NanFang Daily Media Group to spotlight highly innovative enterprises.

Ninestar, a global leader in printing and imaging products, was one of the recipients of the awards. Based in Xiangzhou District of Zhuhai, the company won the Exemplary M&A Award for its successful acquisition of Lexmark International, a renowned American laser printer manufacturer. The big move cost $3.9 billion and was considered instructive in such cases, as it was done by an A-shares listed company. Company revenue in 2017 was 21.5 billion yuan ($3.4 billion).

Livzon, another Xiangzhou District company, has successfully evolved into an innovation-oriented pharmaceutical enterprise. It spent over 576 million yuan in R&D in 2017, an increase of 21.2 percent over the previous year. Zhu Baoguo, president of Livzon Pharmaceutical Group, was named an Innovation Star at the awards ceremony for what he has done in steering the company through self-upgrades.

Ninestar manufacturing base [Photo courtesy Zhuhai Daily]