The Zhuhai Municipal Government intends to establish the city as a regional scientific center and pilot zone for innovation development by 2030.

A plan for scientific and technological innovation in the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) was approved Nov 22 at an executive meeting. Under it, Zhuhai would become a national innovative city, sci-tech innovation center on the west bank of the Pearl River Estuary, important node in the Guangzhou-Zhuhai-Macao Scientific & Technological Innovation Corridor, and innovation highland in the Guangdong-Hong Kong -Macao Greater Bay Area. 

Local economic development is to gradually be driven by talent rather than factor. Economic development and scientific innovation are to reinforce and support each other.

Tsinghua Science Park in the Zhuhai National Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone (Tangjiawan) [Photo courtesy WeChat account: zhtqb12345]

Major tasks for Zhuhai's scientific innovation include taking an active part in making the Greater Bay Area an international sci-tech innovation center, optimizing a full-industrial-chain sci-tech innovation system, cultivating vital innovation and entrepreneurship entities, accelerating the aggregation of high-end resources, and constantly improving a sci-tech innovation governance system.

Zhuhai's sci-tech power surged in the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20). Government spending on science and technology grew from 2.86 billion yuan ($448 million) in 2015 to 5.15 billion yuan ($807 million) in 2020. Ownership of invention patents also climbed from 22.25 per 10,000 persons in 2015 to 93.9 in 2020, ranking 2nd in Guangdong Province.

The number of high-tech companies rose from 397 in 2015 to 2,101 in 2020, an annual growth rate of 39.54 percent. The city became home to 700,000 talents by 2020, leading the Pearl River Delta region with a net talent inflow rate of around 6.1 percent.

Zhuhai ranked 11th among 289 domestic cities and 2nd among prefectural-level cities in the China Urban Sci-tech Innovation Development Report 2020, which was released by the Capital Institute of Science & Technology Development Strategy in January.