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Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –
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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News
GUANGZHOU, July 14 (Xinhua) — The area around Songshan Lake in southern China's Guangdong Province exudes youthful energy. Just two decades ago, it was a quiet orchard, but now it is home to a thriving innovation hub. These days, it is not harvesting fruits, but ideas.
The 103 square kilometer high-tech zone is home to more than 17,000 market players, including seven national manufacturing champions and 770 national high-tech enterprises. Each is contributing to the rise of next-generation technologies, from connected vehicles and robotics to intelligent engineering, biomedicine, and advanced materials and energy.
The rapid growth of enterprises is facilitated by the innovative ecosystem of Songshan Lake, which is home to six universities and 18 provincial-level new R&D institutions. It is also home to several key scientific facilities, including the China Spallation Neutron Source and an advanced attosecond laser infrastructure currently under construction.
The evolution of ePropulsion, co-founded by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) alumnus Pan Zongliang and three of his classmates, is a vivid illustration of this dynamic ecosystem.
In 2012, recognizing the significant potential in marine renewable energy, they formed a startup team dedicated to research and development in marine electric propulsion systems. By 2014, they had completed the prototype of their first electric outboard motor. However, the process of turning this innovation into a market-ready product was fraught with challenges. The industrialization process proved to be a complex undertaking that required considerable effort and resources to manage.
Fortunately, HKUST professor Li Zexiang founded the XbotPark robotics base in Songshan Lake area in 2014. He also facilitated the relocation of ePropulsion's five-person staff to Songshan Lake, providing them with valuable assistance.
“As a marine renewable energy company, we needed a water area to test our products,” explained Pan Zongliang, co-founder and COO of ePropulsion. The Songshan Lake Administrative Committee provided the team with a key asset: a special dock for conducting water tests. “It was a huge support,” Pan Zongliang recalled.
In addition to political support, Songshan Lake's strategic location allows XbotPark companies to take advantage of the supply chain advantages of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
According to the director of the XbotPark robotics base, teams working in this environment often say: “If you can imagine it, you can build it.” “Finding suppliers for good ideas can usually be completed in about thirty minutes,” he says.
ePropulsion currently operates from a manufacturing facility in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, southern China, where Lake Songshanhu is located. The product range includes a wide range of overhead electric systems from 500 to 1000 kW, as well as overhead drives, embedded systems, batteries and control systems, which are sold worldwide.
“Our main market is Europe and the United States, and our small and medium-sized electric outboard motors ranked first in the world in terms of shipment volume last year,” Pan Zongliang said. “The domestic market share is also growing as the new energy boat sector expands in China,” he added.
Their eco-friendly propulsion systems now power boats at events such as SailGP and the America's Cup, as well as on scenic waters across China, including Donghu Lake in Wuhan, West Lake in Hangzhou and the Lijiang River in Guilin.
According to XbotPark, it has helped create more than 80 startups in the field of robotics and intelligent equipment, of which six are included in the list of unicorn companies whose estimated value has grown to a billion US dollars in a short period of time. At the same time, their survival rate has exceeded 80%. The total value of the leading companies in the base is $ 10 billion.
Nearby, at the Guangdong Institute of Intelligent Robotics (GIRI), another industrial park near Songshan Lake, a bright yellow robot maneuvers in a test tank, rising and falling with the agility of a fish. This intelligent underwater inspection robot, developed by BlueDiveBot, conducts comprehensive inspections with no blind spots.
“Underwater robots can perform equipment maintenance, garbage collection, water quality monitoring and emergency response, overcoming human limitations and safety risks,” said Hu Gangyi, CEO of BlueDiveBot.
Incubated by GIRI and founded in 2023, BlueDiveBot has established a collaborative innovation platform integrating industry, education, research and application for advanced underwater equipment. The company has mastered a number of advanced technologies in the field of unmanned underwater intelligent systems, some of which are the first of their kind in the country.
"The well-developed industrial chain in Dongguan and surrounding areas accelerates the commercialization of our R&D," Hu Gangyi said. "We have quickly achieved the expansion of production capacity and significant growth in market sales."
Since its establishment in August 2015, GIRI has focused its R&D and commercialization efforts on key robotics components such as high-power lasers, sensors and machine vision systems, in addition to its core products that include industrial robots, high-end intelligent equipment, unmanned autonomous systems and industrial big data.
GIRI Deputy Director Zhou Xiaoxiao compares prototype technologies to an “unripe green apple.” In order to become a “ripe red apple,” the technology must undergo a process of refinement, she says, and this transformation is necessary for the technology to become the basis for producing a wide range of products, including both “apple jam” and “apple juice.”
Further development of innovation was supported by Songshan Lake High-tech Zone's partnership with Huawei Cloud to build the "Developer Village" in April 2022. It meets the digitalization needs of enterprises through deep integration and joint innovation between various developer organizations, promoting digital innovation and industrial upgrading. Currently, 29 companies are located there.
“The Songshan Lake High-Tech Zone has carried out cutting-edge basic research,” concluded Wang Qianqian, deputy director of the Songshan Lake Science, Technology and Innovation Bureau. “Based on the results of basic research, we have built a complete innovation chain from pioneering research to commercialization and industrial development.” -0-
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