Innovation continues to fuel Shenzhen's growth

A humanoid robot called Walker X, developed by Shenzhen-based startup UBTech Robotics, plays Chinese chess at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai in June 2021. [China Daily]

R&D spending in entrepreneurial hub has helped city's GDP more than double in past 10 years

Looking out from an office window in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, entrepreneur Zhou Jian recalled how factories and old villages once stood there. Now, however, the area has been transformed into a large, high-tech industrial park that fosters the growth of scientific and technological innovation enterprises.

In fact, the office area of Zhou's startup at Nanshan iPark has expanded from one floor to nine.

Zhou is among the innovators pursuing their dreams in Shenzhen. Ten years ago, he established UBTech Robotics, which has since developed into one of the world's top designers and manufacturers of intelligent humanoid robots.

As a pioneer of China's reform and opening-up, Shenzhen has long embraced innovation, and the past decade has witnessed its innovative "DNA" playing a unique role in driving economic growth.

Shenzhen was the first stop that Xi Jinping chose to visit on his first inspection tour after being elected general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee during the 18th National Congress of the CPC in 2012. Since then, he has visited the city two more times to show China's determination in pursuing expansion of reform and opening-up.