China’s Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area enjoys unique advantages.

It boasts a variety of industries within the traditional manufacturing and service sector, as well as the powerful high tech industry.

Guangdong province spent 234.4 billion yuan ($34.85 billion) on research and development (R&D) in 2017, ranking first in China for two consecutive years. The province also ranked first in terms of how many people were employed in the R&D sector, with a total of 879,900 individuals.

On average, an invention patent was registered every 48 days in Shenzhen, evidence which proves the innovation capability of the city.

Additionally, the Greater Bay Area has already gained potential for economic development. The area miraculously generated a GDP of about 10 trillion yuan in 2017, or 13 percent of China’s total national income, despite taking up less than 0.6 percent of the country’s territory and being home to a mere 5 percent of the total population.

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has an area larger than the total size of bay areas in Los Angeles, New York and Tokyo. Its port handling capacity is also five times larger than the total of the three mentioned, ranking the first in the world. It also has a younger workforce who can achieve sustained development.

Each region of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has its own respective features, such as the finance industry of Hong Kong, lottery industry of Macao, high-tech industry of Shenzhen, and manufacturing of Dongguan. These industries are closely connected and well balanced. They all contribute favorable factors to build themselves into world-class bay areas.