More than 30 young Hong Kong innovation and technology entrepreneurs and executives visited high-tech enterprises in Foshan, Guangdong province while on a two-day tour to explore the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area’s technology vibe.
The delegation was led by So Cheung‑wing, chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Foshan Associations, and Adrian Cheng Chi-kong, president of the federation.
This visit marks the federation’s first trip to Foshan and the first official meeting with municipal leaders since the inauguration of its new leadership. The entrepreneurs participating in the visit are from industries such as capital management, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and jewelry.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the delegates visited high-tech enterprises Ji Hua Laboratory — a research institute dedicated to advancing critical core technologies and driving industrial transformation — and FAW‑Volkswagen’s South China Base, an electric vehicle automated manufacturing line in Foshan.
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The delegates toured China’s largest industrial robot manufacturing base operated by the Kuka Group in Foshan’s Shunde district and observed its fully automated “robots‑making‑robots” production line. They also toured Foshan’s central business district and Shunde Yunlu wetland town, to learn about the city’s investment environment, financial services system and supporting policies.
The trip deepened the participants' understanding of the Greater Bay Area's strong productive forces, while helping to forge closer connections between Hong Kong enterprises and Chinese mainland companies and providing an opportunity to explore future investment and project collaborations.
Cheng said after the tour that Foshan has a well-developed manufacturing ecosystem and industrial chains, and the visit to the laboratory expanded his horizons and furthered his understanding of the nation's broader development landscape.
Cheng hopes that the tour will serve as a bridge and motivate Hong Kong entrepreneurs to engage in some practical collaborations. After experiencing an environment that produces such diverse technological innovations, the entrepreneurs feel inspired to pursue future globalization, digitalization, and technological advancement opportunities, he said.
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Hong Kong is an international center for finance, shipping, and trade, with a vast global network, while other Greater Bay Area cities have complete industrial chains and strong capabilities in transforming scientific research results, backed by a broad market, Cheng said. Therefore, the deep integration of the two sides is an unstoppable trend, he added.
“By bringing young Hong Kong tech entrepreneurs into the Greater Bay Area to visit research institutes and industrial ecosystems firsthand, we are putting national strategies into practice in a concrete and meaningful way,” said Cheng.
Contact the writer at atlasshao@chinadailyhk.com
