The annual meeting of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference opens on Jan 28, 2024. (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
The development of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone, an area straddling the boundary between the two cities, has been under the spotlight at the annual meeting of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, which opened on Sunday.
Christopher Chuang Tze-cheung, a political adviser in Shenzhen, proposed a pilot “venture capital connect” in the zone to facilitate the cross-border flow of funds.
The State Council in August unveiled the Development Plan for Shenzhen Park of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone, aiming to form an efficient Shenzhen-Hong Kong collaboration mechanism in science and technology innovation by 2025 and establish a world-class innotech hub by 2035. In the following month, Hong Kong Science Park, operated by Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corp, opened its first Chinese mainland branch in the zone.
So far, the zone has attracted more than 400 technology enterprises and dozens of scientific research institutions.
Fang Zhou, a Shenzhen political adviser who is also research director at the One Country Two Systems Research Institute, put suggested developing a synergetic investment management mechanism
Chuang said mainland startups and technology projects are gaining traction in Hong Kong and many investors are willing to invest across the border, especially in the technology hub of Shenzhen. Meanwhile, Shenzhen also needs capital to develop innovative technologies, he added.
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“Venture capital connect can allow funds from Hong Kong to flow directly into the Hetao zone within certain cross-border investment quotas, instead of going through the Qualified Foreign Limited Partnership scheme or other foreign exchange channels for each investment. The connect can attract more international financial resources to the zone and meanwhile promote the mainland's new technology to the world through Hong Kong,” he noted.
Fang Zhou, a Shenzhen political adviser who is also research director at the One Country Two Systems Research Institute, put suggested developing a synergetic investment management mechanism.
He also highlighted the significance of realizing the holistic free flow of personnel, vehicles, information, data, cargo, funds, and biological products, as early as possible.
“Among the seven aspects, authorities of Guangdong province have released guidelines for the first four, and Shenzhen should expedite the implementation of detailed rules based on these policies. For the other three areas, Shenzhen and Hong Kong should make joint efforts to seek support from the central government,” he explained.
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Zhang Yaohua, a member of the Shenzhen Committee of the CPPCC, proposed that Shenzhen and Hong Kong should leverage the Hetao zone to deepen cooperation on the advanced manufacturing industry, including new materials, molds, equipment development and high-end computer numerical control machining.
To propel the high-quality development of scientific and technological cooperation between the two cities, Zhang said the complementary advantages of Hong Kong universities' research and development strengths and Shenzhen’s technology commercialization ability could create a new growth engine.
The meeting will continue until Wednesday and the approximately 500 political advisers in attendance are expected to make more suggestions regarding the city’s future. The annual meeting of the city’s legislature, the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Congress, opens on Tuesday.
Yi Yang contributed to this story.
