Five Parks hold hands to Embark on a Northward Journey

The Foshan Northern Strategic New Industry Park is rapidly rising as part of Foshan's "Northward Strategy", which aims to boost development in the city's northern regions. With this strategy, five major industrial areas—Foshan Talent Innovation Lighthouse Industrial Park, Yundonghai Biopharmaceutical Industrial Park, Datong Lake Technology Industrial Park, Shishan New Materials Industrial Park, and Datang New Materials Industrial Park—are under construction. The Foshan National High-Tech Industrial Development Zone (FHIDZ), responsible for planning and coordinating the Foshan Northern Strategic New Industry Park and Lighthouse Industrial Park, is embarking on a new journey of innovation and exploration.

By strengthening coordination with mechanisms, planning and service, and promoting  development by overall planning, FHIDZ fosters synergy among these five parks. It focuses on building industrial clusters, attracting investments, nurturing talent, and carrying out investigations, which aims to promote the idea of "one family", aligning the parks with the Management Committee of FHIDZ.

With the torch being passed from generation to generation, the FHIDZ is pushing forward in the accelerated speed of innovation, creating positive interaction between parks and towns, making the FHIDZ the main core force leading the rapid development of Foshan’s economy.

In the first half of 2024, the total industrial output of FHIDZ enterprises included in statistics reached 296.02 billion yuan and revenue reached 311.625 billion yuan, with a growth rate of 0.6% and 0.7% respectively . It also saw a 3.5% increase in export value, totaling 55.532 billion yuan. The zone including five parks introduced 52 of 100-million-worth industrial projects, with a total investment of 28.686 billion yuan. Additionally, five local companies enter the competition for national science and technology awards. Standing at the forefront of the tide, the FHIDZ has always been the pioneer of national high-tech zones.

On August 9, the Foshan Northern Strategic New Industry Park held an investment and financing matching event for pharmaceutical and health industry at Qiandeng Lake Venture Capital Town. During the event, investment institutions found promising projects, and project representatives connected with their ideal investors, resulting in over 20 projects engaging with investment institutions. By the end of the event, nearly 6 billion yuan of financing intentions had been secured.

Further accelerated development of Foshan Northern Strategic New Industry Park is facilitated through the deep integration of industrial chains, innovation chains, capital chains, and policy support.

The Foshan Northern Strategic New Industry Park was initially proposed during the 13th Foshan Party Congress in November 2021. Spanning across nine towns in Nanhai and Sanshui districts, it covers a total area of 518 square kilometers, making it the largest industrial park in Foshan's history. This ambitious project marks the birth of Foshan's "Northward Strategy."

To ensure the successful development of the industrial park, the city adopted  "a game of chess" approach including the whole city with municipal departments supporting the park's construction. The FHIDZ Management Committee also took on the responsibility of managing the Foshan Northern Strategic New Industry Park. The committee made great efforts in setting up the framework of infrastructure, , accelerating construction, and advancing major planning, policies, projects, use of land, and industrial layout of “Ten Innovation-Driven Characteristic Manufacturing Parks”.

At this time, the fifth round of management reform for the FHIDZ was underway. In 2019, the Foshan Municipal Government issued the "Optimization Plan for the Management System of the Foshan National High-tech Industrial Development Zone," marking the start of a new round of reforms. The plan specified that the FHIDZ Management Committee operates as an institution directly managed by the municipal government.  It is led by the city and developed by districts, including one zone and five parks, which is planned in one, managed seperately and serve with innovation. The high-tech parks in five administrative districts—Chancheng, Nanhai, Shunde, Gaoming, and Sanshui—have established management bureaus as subordinates of the FHIDZ, each is tasked with implementing the high-tech zone’s strategic directives. The overall management area has been optimized from 591.98 square kilometers to 470.72 square kilometers, representing a reduction of over 20%.

The staff, property and supplies of the management bureaus of five park are entrusted to the administrative districts where they are located, who take the main responsibility for the construction and development of the parks.

According to prominent domestic research institution Great Wall Strategic Consulting, FHIDZ's reforms are defined as a "non-construction-oriented multi-park model". This approach marks a shift in the management focus of the zone. Similar models have been implemented in other national high-tech zones, including Beijing Zhongguancun, Shanghai Zhangjiang, Shenzhen, and Nanjing. The launch of Foshan’s "One Zone, Five Parks" model also signifies the conclusion of the fourth round of reforms, which focused on integrating parks and towns under unified management.

The first phase of the FHIDZ, known as "direct management by the city" model, began in 1992 and ended in 2003. Initially, the FHIDZ Management Committee was directly managed by the city government, functioning merely as a department without direct jurisdiction. The development, investment, and administrative tasks still went through government processes, requiring approval from the city government.

During this period, the State Council approved the reorganization of Foshan's districts, leading to the establishment of five districts: Chancheng, Nanhai, Shunde, Sanshui, and Gaoming, which are still in use today. In 2004, the city government decided to delegate management of the FHIDZ to Chancheng, initiating the "park-district interaction" model, which means part of the FHIDZ (the City South Park) was under management of both Foshan and Chancheng. The FHIDZ faced the second round of structural reform. From city management to district management, this was the first time for the FHIDZ to accept degraded management. At that time, however, the City West Park was completed and the construction of City South Park was still led by Foshan Government. This model faced challenges due to limited development space and unclear responsibilities, leading to its conclusion in 2006. This was also the starting year of the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” of the FHIDZ. But we could see achievement in this phase —

According to the Foshan Municipal Government’s 2007 work report, the previous year’s technological innovation capacity was summarized as follows: 16 national characteristic industrial bases, 41 key high-tech enterprises under the National Torch Program, 3 national-level enterprise technology centers, 59 provincial engineering centers, 30 provincial technology innovation towns, 6 academician workstations, and 19 postdoctoral workstations. In 2006, the city's high-tech product output reached 160 billion yuan, accounting for 25.6% of the total output of industry above designated size, with patent applications and licensing ranking among the top in the province.

The path of exploration has not been smooth, and reforms continue to evolve. In 2007, the FHIDZ initiated a third round of reforms aimed at industrial transformation, urban transition, and environmental reconstruction. One year later, the expansion of the zone further propelled these reforms.

On February 14, 2008, the FHIDZ integrated resources from various economic development zones, forming a "One Zone, Six Parks" development framework. At this point, the zone's approved area expanded from its original 10 square kilometers to 48.6 square kilometers. During this time, the Ministry of Science and Technology’s Torch Center, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology, and the Foshan Municipal Government collaborated to establish the Foshan National Torch Innovation and Entrepreneurship Park, focusing on technology finance, technology services, entrepreneurship incubation, and technology transfer, particularly in new materials, new energy, new IT, electronic information, and industrial design—becoming a core platform for the zone's "second birth".

In the "One Zone, Six Parks" model, each sub-park operated under local management, while the FHIDZ was managed by the city without direct responsibility for the exploitation and economy within the FHIDZ. Its main task was to enhance statistical coordination and improve the zone's national ranking.

Compared to the previous rounds, the third round of reforms was particularly challenging. The zone faced significant industrial hollowing due to the government's stringent pollution controls shutting down energy-intensive, heavy-pollution, and low-efficiency enterprises. Additionally, it grappled with the pressures of the international financial crisis and was affected by natural disasters, all while supporting reconstruction efforts in earthquake-affected areas in Sichuan.

Despite these challenges, the "Six Parks" of the FHIDZ rose to the occasion, leveraging their strengths to achieve breakthroughs in innovation clusters and investment. In 2009, the industrial output of the "One Zone, Six Parks" reached 154.4 billion yuan, accounting for 13.1% of Foshan's total, four times that of 2005; industrial added value reached 36.9 billion yuan, 12.9% of the city's total; exports totaled 6.395 billion USD, three times that of 2005; and total tax revenue reached 8.573 billion yuan, twelve times that of 2005. By 2011, the FHIDZ's industrial output had reached 238 billion yuan.

As the third round of reforms approached its end, a significant ranking incident occurred. In April 2011, Guangdong Province conducted its first assessment of six national high-tech zones and nine provincial high-tech zones, with Shenzhen ranking first at 96.77 points, and Foshan ranking last at 78.04 points. This marked the first assessment since the establishment of the first batch of national high-tech zones in Guangdong in 1991. The huge gap lies in the number of high-tech enterprises - Foshan only had around 360 such enterprises compared to over 1,600 in Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

Motivated by this low ranking, the FHIDZ entered a fourth round of reforms in 2012. On January 12, the core park of the FHIDZ officially moved to Nanhai, establishing Nanhai High-tech Zone as its core area. The management committee was entrusted to Nanhai District. In April, an adjustment in the relationship between the park and town was initiated, leading to integrated operations among the FHIDZ Management Committee, Nanhai High-tech Zone committee, and Shishan Town government, exploring the "park-town integration" model. There was no more bureau of finance, bureau of economy and bureau of planning. Instead, they all worked together with six organizations of the management committee.

One year later, the Foshan Municipal Government granted the FHIDZ authority to conduct city-level administrative approvals within its core area. The Guangdong Provincial Civil Affairs Department approved administrative adjustments, merging Luocun and the western five villages of Dali into Shishan Town. Thus, except for some areas of Danzao Town, the jurisdiction of Nanhai High-tech Zone aligned closely with that of Shishan Town.

During the fourth round of reforms, although the FHIDZ committee did not possess primary fiscal authority, it gained certain management rights over land use and received stable financial support from Nanhai District, enabling rapid development and positioning the zone as a leader in the Pearl River Delta’s independent innovation demonstration zones. The FHIDZ significantly improved its national ranking, rising from 57th in 2013 (out of 114 evaluated zones) to 25th in 2018 (out of 157), marking a 32-position jump in five years.

"This remains the highest national ranking for the FHIDZ to date," noted insiders. By 2018, the FHIDZ had separated from Shishan Town and no longer managed the economic and social affairs of Shishan Town, marking the end of the six-year "park-town integration" reform. In that year, the FHIDZ achieved a regional GDP of 156.3 billion yuan, with 1,514 high-tech enterprises representing 38% of Foshan's total, 14 national-level technology incubators accounting for 71% of Foshan's total and 77 publicly listed companies and companies listed on the New Third Board, making up 51% of Foshan's total.

This impressive reform outcome reflects the wisdom and dedication of the FHIDZ team. Over 32 years, the FHIDZ has undergone five significant adjustments to its management system, transitioning through various models including "city direct management," "district delegated management," "One Zone, Six Parks," "park-town integration," and "led by city, developed by district". Each round of reform has been accompanied by transformative changes in development strategies, construction highlights, area ranges, policy frameworks, organizational structures, and personnel, ultimately shaping the current "One Zone, Five Parks" development pattern.