Guangzhou ranks 25th among the top 50 research cities in the world, according to a recent survey published by the Nature Index 2018 Science Cities, a supplement of the British scientific journal Nature.

The list reveals 10 Chinese cities entering the top 50, with Beijing ranking in first place, Shanghai at seventh, Nanjing at 12th, and other places including Wuhan, Hong Kong, Hefei, Hangzhou, Tianjin, Changchun at 19th, 26th, 27th, 33rd, 35th and 42nd respectively.

Guangzhou has been speeding up development in the scientific research field over the past six years. The government has implemented a strategy aiming to create an innovation-driven economic system and development pattern.

The city took the opportunity of the construction of the Pearl River Delta National-Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone to make a strategic development plan focusing on the establishment of innovation regions and promoting coordinated development among them. As a result, the R&D expenditure of Guangzhou hit 53.2 billion yuan ($7.7 billion) in 2017, up 16.4 percent compared to 2016.

Highlighting the dominant position of enterprise innovation, the city has given a big push to fostering high-tech enterprises. The number of new high-tech enterprises was up to 8,690 by 2017, 10 of which were selected for the top 50 National Best Innovation Companies in 2017, ranking at the forefront of the country for the fourth consecutive year.

Moreover, Guangzhou has introduced numerous favorable policies to set up sound innovation platform systems to provide strong support for newly established firms. In order to attract outstanding talents, it has actively implemented the "1+4" personnel policy to advance the aggregation of industry leaders. To be deeply connected into the global innovation network, Guangzhou is seeking cooperation with developed countries and regions, cities involved with the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, promoting high-level two-way open innovation.