The formation of a 100-billion-yuan ($15 billion) biomedicine industrial cluster in Zhuhai came nearer to reality Sept 28 as ground was broken for two medical projects in the National Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone (Tangjiawan).

Costing 1.3 billion yuan ($191 million) is Innovation Science & Technology Park of the Zhuhai Institute of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). It is being built at the Technological Innovation Coast in Beiwei (Zhuhai North Railway Station area). Designed to accommodate 100 biomedical and medical equipment enterprises, the park will provide laboratories for research in biology, brain science, and precision medicine as well as medical big data and artificial intelligence.

The Innovation Sci-Tech park will be operated by the Hi-Tech Zone Administrative Committee, Shenzhen New World Group, and Zhuhai Institute of Advanced Technology of CAS under a November 2019 agreement. Zhuhai deputy mayor Hu Xintian said Zhuhai will absorb high-quality resources from Shenzhen based on the CAS platform and establish itself as an aggregated zone and development highland in the country for biomedical sci-tech innovation. 

Rendering of Medical Industry Acceleration Base of Guangdong Medical Valley [Photo by Zhong Fan / Guanhai App] 

Nearby in the zone, the cornerstone was laid in Jinding Town for the 94.5-mu (6.3-hectare, 16-acre) Medical Industry Acceleration Base of Guangdong Medical Valley. Costing 2 billion yuan ($293 million), it will be a medical equipment and high-end biomedicine production base, and R&D and quality control center under "intelligent internet" management.

The base will have floorage of 224,000 sqm (55 acres), of which 132,300 sqm (33 acres) will be for R&D and production plants and 56,700 sqm (14 acres) will accommodate national public laboratories, testing rooms, and national third-party pharmaceutical logistics platforms. It will bring in and incubate more than 260 enterprises, which are expected to realize an annual output value of 750 million yuan ($110 million).

As of now, half of the site has been leveled and construction will begin very soon. The first phase will be ready next June, while work on the second phase will be completed by the end of 2022, according to Xie Jiasheng, chief executive officer of Guangdong Medical Valley Industrial Park Investment & Management.

Xie says that Zhuhai has unlimited potential for biomedical development due to advantageous geographical location and preferential policies as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area develops. The city already has a solid industrial foundation laid by numerous leading and seeded enterprises such as Jafron Biomedical, Guangdong Biolight Meditech, Essex Bio-Technology, and Biotheus.