For the first time, Zhuhai has edged into the top 10 among 289 domestic cities on the 2019 index in the Sci-Tech Innovation & Development Report of Chinese Cities.

The Capital Institute of Science & Technology Development Strategy and City & Competitiveness Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences have released the report annually since 2017.

Assessed are four first-grade indexes of innovation resources, environment, service, and performance; 11 second-grade indexes such as innovation talents, R&D expenditure, and entrepreneurial services; and 26 third-grade indexes.

Zhuhai was 13th in 2017 and 2018 with indexes of 0.376 and 0.364. This year, at 0.4204, it and Suzhou are the only prefecture-level cities in the top 10.

Tsinghua Science Park, Zhuhai National Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone [Photo by Zhong Fan / File photo]

Wang Lei, director of the Zhuhai Science & Technology Innovation Bureau, attributed the achievements to innovation factors, an improved innovation environment, and better services.

There was a spurt of high-level sci-tech achievements in 2019. CRCC Harbor & Channel Engineering Bureau Group was granted the 2018 National Science & Technology Progress Award first prize for developing the theory, key technology, and engineering application of composite foundations. National Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone (Tangjiawan) companies Meizu Technology and Essex Biopharmaceuticals received second prizes.

Meanwhile, two Zhuhai projects won 2018 Guangdong Science & Technology Award first prizes, and three garnered second prizes.

As of November 2019, the city was home to 2,212 hi-tech enterprises (including 656 newly recognized last year), 17 provincial new-type R&D institutions, and 406 innovation platforms above provincial level. It also had 14 provincial leading talents, six provincial innovation-entrepreneurship teams, and 13 municipal academician workstations.

Four Macao State Key Laboratories set up branches in Hengqin New Area in December amid the accelerated pace of the Greater Bay Area's emergence as an international sci-tech innovation center.