The Guangzhou municipal government will select some 200 high-tech startups in the latest cutting-edge technology areas and strive to breed among them some "unicorn" enterprises (startup companies valued at more than $1 billion) within 2018, according to Xinhua reports.

Guangzhou has built her confidence in attaining this goal upon her previous achievements. The southern Chinese city, which currently has approximately 8,700 National High-tech Enterprises (a qualification certified by China's Ministry of Science and Technology), witnessed an explosive growth of such enterprises in the past two years, with a net increase of 2,820 in 2016 and nearly 4,000 in 2017. The added amount is only second to that of Beijing among all of the cities in China.

Apart from the rapid growth in the quantity of high-tech firms, Guangzhou also takes pride in the quality of her high-tech startups. Guangzhou has 10 companies represented in "2017 The Most Innovative Companies in China 50" by the American business magazine, Fast Company, coming second only to Beijing. Additionally, 13 out of the "2017 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 China" winners came from the southern Chinese city, second to none.

Up to now, a large group of famous brands with their own intellectual-property rights, such as WeChat, Kugou Music, Kingfa Technology, and Haige Communications, have risen up in the city and taken the lead in their separate industries.

Guangzhou takes care of innovation enterprises throughout their entire growth process

These achievements owe much to the government's tremendous support. Guangzhou municipal government has been investing heavily in innovation incubation. By the end of 2017, the total area of incubators in the city reached 9.09 million square meters, which delivered more than 12,000 startups. During the incubation phase, the enterprises could receive entrepreneurial subsidies, rent reduction, and financing subsidies. Once they grew to a certain scale, the government provided economic support through the "Technology Innovation Little Giant Program" and other special policies. Those leading enterprises could then enjoy prioritized services which aim to develop them into "unicorn" companies.

Apart from formulating favorable policies and special subsidies for high-tech enterprises, the government also guides enterprises in the establishment of an R & D department. Currently, 40 percent of industrial enterprises above the designated scale and 100 percent of large companies with over-500-million-yuan annual revenue have set up dedicated R & D departments. The volume of patent applications made in Guangzhou surpassed 100,000 for the first time in 2017.

For the upcoming year, Guangzhou will focus on IAB (next generation of information technology, artificial intelligence and biological medicine) industries and NEM (new energy industry and new materials) industries, and will prioritize breeding innovation enterprises with originality and international influence. Moreover, the government will keep encouraging enterprises to make greater R&D investment and ensure that at least 45 percent of industrial enterprises above the designated scale have dedicated R & D departments by the end of 2018.

A fleet of auto piloted cars made by Pony.ai hit the road in the Nansha district of Guangzhou on Feb 2. [Photo/southcn.com]