GUANGZHOU, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- A roughly 106-square-kilometer island linking Macao with Guangdong in south China, Hengqin has emerged as a key platform for Macao's efforts to diversify its economy, a central policy objective of the special administrative region government.
The Chinese government first decided to develop the island in 2009. Efforts accelerated in September 2021, when it released an overall plan to construct the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin. In the five years since, the boundary between Hengqin and Macao has significantly reduced, while enterprises and research institutions have been quickly established across the island.
Hengqin is about three times the size of Macao, which means it offers the space that Macao needs to develop diverse industries, specifically those that involve laboratory experiments and mass production.
"Macao needs technological innovation as a new engine for appropriately diversified economic development, while Hengqin provides an unprecedented platform for commercializing scientific achievements," said Lee Shuit-tong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who led the establishment of the Macao Institute of Materials Science and Engineering in Hengqin in 2021.
The institute, under the Macau University of Science and Technology, has since served as a new platform for advancing cross-disciplinary innovation initiatives and turning research findings into products, making breakthroughs in sectors such as OLED-based technologies and devices.
Lee, who also serves as the institute director, said they have operated under the model of performing research in Macao and carrying out commercialization in Hengqin. "We need to leverage the unique advantages of Macao and Hengqin to forge our own path in scientific and technological innovation," he said.
"Working complementarily, Macao can focus on basic research and serve as an international hub, while Hengqin can facilitate industrial application and commercialization," said Cheong Hou Iam, founder of Guangdong True Health Medical Technology Development Co., Ltd.
Founded in 2018 by Cheong, a Macao resident, True Health has settled its headquarters in Hengqin, with a production base in Guangdong's Zhuhai. The company specializes in intelligent medical devices for clinical tumor treatment. Its puncture-surgery navigation and positioning system can help doctors reach lesions more precisely in complex cases. It has been used in more than 100 Chinese hospitals and assisted in over 7,200 operations.
In late June, True Health was listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, becoming the first Hengqin-based listed company.
Cheong stressed that while playing its role in technological research and development, Macao also benefits from commercialization of the research outcomes through revenue, public access to the new products, and potential expansion of local employment. "This is a core path toward appropriately diversified economic development," she said.
As of June 2, the number of Macao-funded enterprises operating in Hengqin had exceeded 8,000, up 72.6 percent from the establishment of the cooperation zone in 2021, accounting for 15.9 percent of all enterprises in the zone.
For Lei Zhen, founder of Nanometals Technology, which settled itself on the island in 2021, Hengqin's appeal lies in its ability to draw on resources from both sides.
"Companies can rely on Guangdong's well-developed supply and industrial chains, while also making use of Macao's international platform, abundant capital, and links to overseas talent and global markets," said Lei, a Macao resident.
Nanometals develops flexible transparent conductive materials, which can be used in the production of a wide range of display screens. It has become a first-tier supplier to several leading Chinese home-appliance companies.
Lei noted that in Hengqin, the company can more conveniently source professionals from the Chinese mainland, while leveraging Macao's international advantages to attract overseas talent.
With favorable customs policies reducing cumbersome border-crossing procedures previously faced by scientists traveling between the two sides, Hengqin can serve as a meeting point for the mainland and overseas researchers, he said.
At the same time, Macao universities and research institutions are also extending their presence in Hengqin, building up educational facilities and experimental laboratories.
"People are increasingly realizing that universities can serve as an important driving force for Macao's economic diversification," said Chen Guokai, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Macau and executive vice president of the University of Macau Advanced Research Institute in Hengqin.
Dedicated to technological innovation and technology transfer, the Advanced Research Institute focuses its core operations on key areas such as microelectronics and integrated circuits, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and advanced materials.
Chen said when the institute began construction several years ago, a one-way trip from Macao to Hengqin, including border clearance, took about one and a half hours, and now it takes less than 30 minutes.
"Teachers can finish their classes in Macao and then come here to meet representatives of mainland TCM companies in the laboratory to discuss the commercialization of research outcomes," he said.
With more efficient cross-boundary flows of people and other resources, cooperation among industry, universities and research institutions in Hengqin and Macao will have broader room to grow, he added.
Convenient travel has also underpinned the development of the Macao-Hengqin International Education (University) Town, a project included in the national 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) and the third Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Macao Special Administrative Region that was released last week.
The University Town currently hosts three public institutions -- the University of Macau, Macao Polytechnic University and the Macao University of Tourism. Its first-phase campus, covering 50,000 square meters, has recently begun operation with the first batch of more than 1,400 students starting their new semester.
Kong Chi Meng, director of Macao's Education and Youth Development Bureau, said the University Town will later add faculties of medicine, design, engineering and information science, and other disciplines in science, engineering, interdisciplinary and emerging fields.
"This will support both Macao's economic diversification and the country's need for talent in building national strength in science and technology," Kong said.
Liao Jianhao, a doctoral student at the Macao University of Tourism who has just started the new school year at the University Town, said the campus offers both an internationalized education system and a comfortable living environment.
Liao said that after graduation, he hopes to stay and work in Hengqin. "Boosted by both the 15th Five-Year Plan and Macao's third Five-Year Plan, Hengqin is bound to embrace better development," he said. ■
