Wang fuqiang: Introducing National Innovation System to Help Manufacturing Innovation in Foshan

The government work report 2020 states that we should accelerate the implementation of regional development strategy, including the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. As the national strategy designed and promoted by General Secretary Xi Jinping personally, the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has now entered the fast track.

Wang Fuqiang suggested that Foshan should actively make the best use of the institutional advantages, set up a national-level innovative scientific research platform and attract more talents. Furthermore, Foshan should transfer its economy to a smart economy and continue to deepen its cooperation with Guangzhou to design a national ecological economic development zone.

Technological innovation: seizing strategic opportunities to boost manufacturing innovation in Foshan.

The “Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area” clearly states that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area should become an international technology innovation center. To this end, Foshan has implemented an innovation-driven development strategy and accelerated the construction of global manufacturing innovation.

“I just came back from Foshan and I think that Foshan has a good foundation for building a national manufacturing innovation center,” said Wang Fuqiang from CCIEE.

In his view, the innovation system can be divided into three levels, the national innovation system, enterprise innovation system and social innovation system. The innovation system of Foshan’s enterprise has a solid foundation and some companies have great international influence. For example, the Midea Group acquired Kuka and the Country Garden Group is building a robot valley.

“In the next step, Foshan should vigorously introduce the national innovation system, such as building a national laboratory platform,” said Wang Fuqiang. It needs to work on applied technology Research and rely on high-end innovation platforms to make up for the shortcomings of the current national innovation system.

Many national high-tech projects and key research platforms need to be implemented, representing great opportunities for Foshan. Foshan should seize the opportunity of policy changes.

In terms of the social innovation system, Foshan also needs to make more progress, such as providing investment and financing services, offering better intellectual property and attracting talents.

If Foshan wants to build a national manufacturing innovation center, it needs to make better use of its proximity to Hong Kong and Macao. Hong Kong has proposed “re-industrialization” but it does not have enough space. Foshan’s industrial transformation requires high-end science and technology resources and the two sides will achieve a win-win outcome if they can cooperate. Furthermore, Foshan could offer strategic support to Hong Kong’s re-industrialization and the cooperation with Macau and Hong Kong will enable Foshan to gather abundant international innovation resources.

In addition, Foshan should not just focus on the Greater Bay Area but also open itself to the entire world. Enterprises of Foshan should expand their business and investment, and cooperate with influential international companies.

Progress with Guangzhou: to design a national eco-economic development demonstration zone.

The proposal of Guangzhou-Foshan Cooperation was made in 2008 and great progress has been achieved ever since. Wang Fuqiang suggests that the two cities can work together to plan a national eco-economic development demonstration zone as an important platform for them to participate in the construction of the Greater Bay Area.

Wang Fuqiang believes that industrial ecologicalization means that industrial value chain, supply chain, innovation chain and product chain should be combined and become one system. R&D, manufacturing, production and sales will have their own place in the demonstration zone. In the future, R&D and design can be carried out in Sanlong Bay, Jihua Laboratory and Guangzhou University City, while manufacturing, finance and exhibition can be carried out in the two cities.

This year’s government work report also emphasized the importance of stabilizing the supply chain and industrial chain. Wang Fuqiang believes that building a domestic and international dual-cycle industrial chain is necessary for achieving that goal. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has a great foundation for that purpose because it has a complete supply and production chain, from raw materials to final products.

Wang Fuqiang also pointed out that at present, the production layout of the city of Guangfo is still region-oriented rather than market-oriented. In the future, the two cities need to eliminate administrative barriers and make more efforts in productivity allocation.

In Wang Fuqiang’s view, as a national central city, Guangzhou has many functions that can be outsourced to other neighboring cities and Foshan is a good choice due to its geographical advantages and solid industrial foundation. The decision-making mechanism of GuangFo city should be further improved and the cooperation between Guangzhou and Foshan should be conducted under the framework of the Greater Bay Area.

Open cooperation: transforming Foshan’s automatic economy to a smart economy.

This year’s government work report stated that in the face of changes in the external environment, we must unswervingly expand opening-up, stabilize the supply chain and industrial chain to promote reform and development. Wang Fuqiang believes that Foshan should establish a new platform and become a model for other cities.

“Foshan needs to seize the opportunities and realize market transformation,” said Wang Fuqiang. In the past, most of the industries in the Pearl River Delta started as OEMs and entered the international market through Hong Kong. With the help of further reform and opening-up as well as the “Belt and Road”, Foshan should take the opportunities to expand the overseas markets.

From the perspective of the industrial economy, the economy can be divided into four levels, namely, mechanical economy, automatic economy, information economy and smart economy. Currently, Foshan is in the stage of automatic economy but it will move towards the smart economy, which is the direction of the world’s development. Foshan must aim at the future and accelerate industrial upgrading and transformation. In the past 40 years of reform and opening-up, Foshan made full use of its advantages in location, land and other factors. In the next stage, it should strive for innovation, build a scientific and technological innovation platform, make arrangements for future-oriented emerging industries, and transform itself from an automatic economy to a smart economy.

In March this year, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the “Opinions on Building a Better Market-Oriented Allocation System”, proposing to reform the allocation of factors on a trial basis. “We need to establish a pilot demonstration city to gather high-end resources, especially science and technology resources. Foshan should strive to become the pilot demonstration city, support the manufacturing industries with preferential policies and make arrangements for strategic emerging industries,” said Wang Fuqiang.

Wang Fuqiang also puts forward the concept of “special talent zone”. He suggested that Foshan should actively make policy breakthroughs to attract more talents. If Foshan can become a pilot demonstration city of free entry and exit of international talents, more foreign talents will be willing to start their businesses in the Greater Bay Area. With its proximity to Hong Kong and Macao, it will be easier for foreign talents come to Foshan.

Foshan should increase investment in scientific and technological research and development, strive to become a pilot demonstration city, use technological innovation to support industrial development, and promote artificial intelligence, data centers, Internet of Things, and 5G applications.

At the same time, Foshan should also encourage companies to deploy industrial chains and innovation chains globally, set up factories, R&D centers and sales centers overseas.