Focus Interview | Activate New Development Momentum Hainan | Momentum | Focus Interview
Guangdong, Fujian, and Hainan all belong to the southeastern coastal region of China, and are also the earliest regions in China to carry out reform and opening up. In the past, the main industries in Guangdong and Fujian were traditional manufacturing based on incoming material processing and contract manufacturing, while in Hainan, the main focus was on real estate. These former main industries have driven the rapid development of the local economy. But in recent years, due to factors such as population dividends and resource constraints, many places here have also encountered bottlenecks in economic growth. So, how do they cultivate new momentum and embark on the path of high-quality development, and what are the effects?
Guangzhou Nansha is located in the geographical and geometric center of the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area, and is an important carrier for the construction of the Greater Bay Area. This former traditional manufacturing hub is moving towards a new direction, accelerating the cultivation of high-tech industries.
On June 7th, the Lijian-1 YJ-2 carrier rocket was successfully launched using the "one arrow, 26 stars" method, breaking China's record of one arrow, multiple stars. This rocket was manufactured in Nansha.
During the research, the reporter visited the final assembly workshop of Zhongke Aerospace, a rocket research and production enterprise. The person in charge of the enterprise told reporters that the rocket assembly has achieved numerous technological breakthroughs. And an important support behind this is the nearly 100 million yuan Nansha New Area Science and Technology Innovation Fund received by the enterprise after settling in Nansha in May 2022.
The Nansha New Area Science and Technology Innovation Fund is one of the main means for the Nansha government to support technology through financial means. In 2015, a free trade zone was established in Nansha. Especially in June 2022, the Nansha Plan to deepen cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao was introduced, making "building a science and technology innovation industry cooperation base" the top task of Nansha construction. In response to the current situation, Nansha has begun to accelerate the introduction and cultivation of high-tech enterprises. It is difficult to attract large enterprises, and Nansha has decided to put effort into cultivating small and medium-sized enterprises, even startups. But soon, a pain point problem emerged: although it has high growth potential, high technological costs, low profits, light assets, and high risks have led to many factors that make it difficult and expensive for the vast majority of such enterprises to raise funds in the capital market, and even become a "life and death" for the enterprise.
Zhong Weibin, Director of the Science and Technology Bureau of Nansha District, Guangzhou, Guangdong: In fact, there are two main ways to raise funds: first, to obtain fund investment, and second, to obtain credit support from banks. Nowadays, social institutions that invest in equity generally tend to favor more mature and later stage enterprises. Banks also tend to focus on enterprises with heavy assets and a certain scale, so it is difficult for startups to gain capital favor.
What to do about pain points? Who will make up for market vacancies? Nansha has decided to explore the path of "one gold+one pool" financial assistance for the development of high-tech industries. "One fund" refers to the Nansha government's investment of 2 billion yuan to establish a science and technology innovation mother fund, which attracts social capital through fundraising and government capital to jointly form sub funds for different types of emerging industries, guiding early investment, small investment, and technology investment.
Li Yutong, General Manager of Guangzhou Nansha Industrial Entrepreneurship Investment Fund Management Co., Ltd.: The government plays a guiding, encouraging, and matchmaking role, allowing more market-oriented capital to see government support, policy support, and the hope of the industry's vigorous development in the local area in the future. This will make more market-oriented institutions willing to support the strong industrial chain that Nansha will focus on building in the future.
Promoting production and innovation through investment. Now, Nansha leverages social capital of 8.6 billion yuan with a master fund of 1.2 billion yuan, forming 21 sub funds and investing in more than 20 enterprises including rocket research and development enterprise Zhongke Aerospace. However, the scope of enterprises covered by fund investments is still limited, and bank loans are still a must-have for most enterprises. Therefore, the Nansha government established a "pool" - a compensation fund pool for credit risk losses of technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises, guiding cooperative banks to provide technology loan services to technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises through risk sharing.
Zhong Weibin, Director of the Science and Technology Bureau of Nansha District, Guangzhou, Guangdong: Assuming a bank incurs losses, the urban finance department can bear 75% of the losses, while the bank only bears 25%. This allows the bank to lend more to technology enterprises.
At present, there are 21 cooperative banks in Nansha, with loans exceeding 1.2 billion yuan. With the support of policies such as "one gold and one pool", in the past year, 299 new projects have been signed in Nansha, and the proportion of strategic emerging industries has reached 76%.
How to cultivate new industries and new driving forces? If Nansha, Guangdong is seizing the pain point of funding and putting in some effort, then another place, Ningde, Fujian, has completed the transformation from zero foundation to the world's largest polymer lithium-ion battery production base through ten years of effort. How did Ningde create new engines and create new momentum? At the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in Ningde City, the reporter saw the latest research report on the development of the new energy industry.
Always paying attention to market changes and making early layouts is the key move for Ningde to cultivate new industries and create new momentum in the past decade. More than a decade ago, just as the country proposed to encourage the development of new energy vehicles, the local government saw the huge potential of the power battery market and promoted the establishment of the power battery production enterprise - Ningde Times. Nowadays, CATL has developed into a leading enterprise in the local area, and under the guidance of the government, many related enterprises have also joined in, forming the entire industry chain of lithium-ion batteries.
Wei Zhifu, Director of the Industry and Information Technology Bureau of Ningde City, Fujian Province: By 2015, we had ushered in a small peak of development, and more than 30 chain enterprises had suddenly settled in. Now, 60% of us can achieve nearby supporting facilities.
With the explosive growth of new energy vehicles, the effect is evident. Now, the market share of the leading enterprise Ningde Times has ranked first in the world for six consecutive years. In 2022, the annual output value of Ningde's lithium-ion new energy industry has exceeded 270 billion yuan, and the power battery cluster in Ningde City has been rated as a national advanced manufacturing cluster. However, challenges and competition have always coexisted with development. In recent years, the raw materials for power batteries have become increasingly limited, and at the same time, overcapacity has led to increasingly fierce market competition. Ningde has started a new round of layout thinking. At the innovation laboratory of Ningde Times, the reporter saw that the staff were testing the latest developed sodium ion battery materials.
On the one hand, Ningde guides enterprises to strengthen innovative technological breakthroughs, ensure supply chain security, and even walk at the highest end of the value chain; On the other hand, by encouraging the introduction of research and development institutions and providing subsidies on the procurement side, a series of policies can be implemented to accelerate the promotion of new downstream markets for new energy applications such as electric ships and electric heavy-duty trucks, further extending the industrial chain. Now, targeting new development potential, Ningde is once again embarking.
To achieve high-quality development, we need to focus on new driving forces. If Ningde's development over the past decade has created new momentum from scratch, then what new path has Hainan, which used to be the sole real estate powerhouse, found as a free trade port to promote the transformation of old and new momentum?
Every day, the bonded port of Yangpu Economic Development Zone in Hainan is very busy.
Zhang Hui, Chairman of Hainan Ausca International Grain and Oil Co., Ltd.: Every month, two ships carrying 47000 tons of raw materials from North America come to Yangpu Port, where they are processed into products and sold to the Southwest, Northwest, and East China regions.
Hainan Ausca International Grain and Oil Co., Ltd. is a comprehensive grain and oil processing enterprise. It is the first productive project completed and put into operation in Yangpu Bonded Port Area after the release of the overall plan for the construction of Hainan Free Trade Port in 2020. The person in charge of the enterprise told reporters that the key to being the first to settle down is to enjoy the free trade port "gold" policy of processing value-added goods that exceed 30% and free of tariffs for domestic sales.
Zhang Hongguang, Director of the Development Bureau of Yangpu Bonded Port Area in Hainan: This policy is more suitable for the type of health food processing enterprises. Now, in addition to Yangpu Bonded Port Area, there are already health food ports outside the area. We have introduced more than 30 health food processing enterprises, and the total output value is gradually reaching 50 billion yuan.
Yangpu Port is a microcosm. Writing on "high-level opening up", taking advantage of the construction of free trade ports, making good use of policy dividends, attracting new enterprises, and developing new industries are becoming the main means for the entire Hainan Province to find new driving forces and promote high-quality development. In the past two years, Hainan has accelerated the implementation of various policies. Since the release of the Overall Plan for the Construction of Hainan Free Trade Port, more than 180 policy documents have been implemented, including duty-free processing of value-added goods for domestic sales. With a "hard" policy, we also need to create a "soft" environment. Creating a first-class business environment is also the core task of Hainan Free Trade Port construction, so how is it done here?
The inflow of foreign capital is a direct reflection of the business environment. The reporter visited a Canadian chocolate production enterprise located in the Jiangdong New Area of Haikou for research. A person in charge told reporters that Hainan implements a "single window" and "one-stop service" for international investment, and enterprises only need one week from application to obtaining their business license. Not only is registration convenient, but after the enterprise is established, whether it is for factory site selection, food production license application, or even children's education, the local government will always provide refined "soft services".
Jin Jing, Director of the Foreign Investment Management Department of the Hainan Provincial Department of Commerce, has established a special team for key foreign investment projects at the provincial and municipal levels, and established a work ledger for serving foreign investment projects. At the same time, we have also innovated mechanisms to protect foreign investment and established complaint agencies for foreign enterprises in 18 cities and counties throughout the province. Foreign enterprises can promptly provide feedback to relevant departments on their difficulties in filing complaints.
Hainan's high-level openness and increasingly optimized business environment have attracted investors and builders from around the world. Data shows that as of the end of May, there were 2.85 million operating entities in Hainan Province, with a growth rate of 39 consecutive months, ranking first in the country. In 2022, the actual utilization of foreign investment in the province reached 4.05 billion US dollars, moving from a small economic province to a province with large foreign investment. The proportion of non real estate investment in the total investment reached 68.4%, and the real estate regulation has successfully achieved breakthroughs.
Wang Changlin, President of the China Institute of Macroeconomics: With economic development, it is no longer sustainable for us to rely on traditional driving forces to maintain growth. Guangdong, Fujian, and Hainan have made some positive explorations for us to promote more innovation, openness, and high-quality development, providing useful references and inspirations for us to better explore, formulate and improve support for innovation, cultivate emerging industries, and promote reform and opening up in the next step.
In recent years, many places have been exploring ways and paths to convert old and new kinetic energy. The practices of Guangdong, Fujian, and Hainan have taught us that in order to cultivate new driving forces, we must adapt to local conditions and seize opportunities; To have a strategic vision and long-term layout; To fully understand the policies and put in a lot of effort in embroidery. At the same time, it is necessary to constantly identify and solve problems. Only by laying out new tracks, forging new advantages, and moving towards the "new" direction can we embark on the path of high-quality development.
Editor | Niu Yanmin, Wang Shiyu, Zheng Shu, Zhu Yong, Wu Yanmin
Camera | Zhang Min, Liang Qipeng, Chen Jiexiong
Editing | Zhang Wenqing
