An interior view of the Tencent headquarters building in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong province, Aug 9, 2017. (PHOTO /VCG)
Guangdong enterprises are playing a leading role in promoting innovation in the country, as evidenced by two reports from the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce published on Monday.
Enterprises in the southern province took up 70 places in the 2021 Private Enterprises Research and Development Spending Top 500 list. The Shenzhen-headquartered telecom equipment and smartphone maker Huawei topped the list, Shenzhen-based internet giant Tencent occupied third place, and Foshan-based home appliance manufacturer Midea was ninth.
Enterprises in the southern province took up 70 places in the 2021 Private Enterprises Research and Development Spending Top 500 list
The top 500 Chinese enterprises poured a combined 742.9 billion yuan ($115.1 billion) into R&D in the past year, with the biggest contributor spending 141.9 billion yuan, the report said.
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The federation based its results on a study of 1,000 private enterprises with the highest R&D investment in the country.
Of the 1,000 private enterprises, 92 were in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and these companies spent a total of 272.3 billion yuan on R&D.
According a separate report on the 2021 Private Enterprises Patent for Invention Top 500 list, 67 enterprises from Guangdong made the list with four in the top 10. Huawei, Tencent, Midea and Zhuhai-based home appliance company Gree ranked first, second, third, and fifth, respectively.
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A total of 330,000 patents for inventions were generated by the top 500 Chinese enterprises, the report showed.
