From leading in the frequency of clinical trials to the agglomeration of leading international CROs (Contract Research Organizations), Guangzhou’s Yuexiu District has become a fertile ground for pharmaceutical R&D innovation. The secret lies in a series of measures by Yuexiu District to continuously improve cadres’ work style and constantly optimize the business environment.
Since the in-depth implementation of the Central Eight-Point Regulation on improving work style, Yuexiu District has closely integrated style construction with economic development, targeting and solving pain points, difficulties, and blockages in enterprise cultivation and development, further activating market entities and social creativity, and injecting strong momentum for high-quality development.
Adhering to Enterprise Consultation and Precisely Formulating Special Policies
“To enhance the ‘soft power’ of enterprise services, deepen the ‘industrial version’ of business environment reform.” The Yuexiu District Committee has always been firm in its determination to connect heart-to-heart with enterprises and achieve common development. The district is home to 15 third-class Grade A hospitals, including 7 top-tier hospitals among the national top 100, and 5 national key laboratories in biomedicine, gathering several academicians and over ten thousand high-level talents.
Yuexiu District actively integrates into Guangzhou’s “12218” modern industrial system, focusing on the “first track” of biomedical and health industries. The deep integration of “industry, city, and people” and the advantages of resource superposition and linkage are fully reflected in Yuexiu. In recent years, it has accelerated the construction of the Yuexiu Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Life and Health Industry Innovation Zone, promoting the integration of medical and health services with industry, academia, and research, building a full-chain industrial ecosystem of “R&D—transformation—manufacturing—service,” releasing the effectiveness of innovation, transformation, talent, and financial services. In 2024, the industrial added value exceeded 40 billion yuan, ranking second in the city, with a significant leap in the energy level of industrial clusters.
Next to the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center at Quzhuang Interchange, Huandong Plaza was once an old property. Yuexiu District introduced state-owned enterprises to revitalize it, successfully reshaping it through “micro-renovation,” and leveraging location advantages to precisely develop the biomedical and health industry. It is home to the nation’s first CRO industry landmark operation center, attracting over 30 biomedical and health-related enterprises, covering various sub-sectors such as CRO, innovative drug development, ophthalmic medical devices, and health management. Currently, this “technology + health” industrial complex has been fully leased for three consecutive years.
Since the beginning of this year, Yuexiu District has combined the implementation of key industrial talent development projects to continuously promote the participation of government, industry, academia, research, and medical sectors in the entire process of industrial development, including first-industry planning research and special policy formulation. In the process of formulating special policies, Yuexiu District screened, fully demonstrated, and scientifically absorbed over 20 opinions proposed by enterprises and hospitals, ensuring that the policies can effectively serve talent growth and employer development.
Strengthening Service Empowerment to Assist High-Quality Enterprise Development
An excellent business environment is inseparable from the improvement of “hardware” such as high-quality carriers. Yuexiu District has broken through the constraints of land elements in the central urban area, continuously promoted the activation and utilization of properties around 15 third-class Grade A hospitals in the district, transforming the constraint of “small area” into the agglomeration advantage of “high density.”
An excellent business environment requires the gathering of various innovative elements. Yuexiu District has continuously directed policy resources, scenario resources, talent resources, and financial resources “flowing” to market entities, providing solid support for innovation and entrepreneurship. For biomedical enterprises, Yuexiu District’s rich medical scenario resources are undoubtedly key. Li Jiwei, founder of Migsi Medical, which newly settled in Yuexiu this year, frankly said: “Choosing Yuexiu is not only because of its unique clinical resource advantages but also because Yuexiu District has connected us with rich application scenario resources.”
Yuexiu District takes improving work style as a starting point, promoting cadres to vigorously learn about industries, sink down to assist enterprises, deeply integrate into the entire lifecycle of enterprise development with a “master” attitude and “shop assistant” awareness, gradually forming a new model of enterprise service: “paying attention without disturbing beforehand, actively solving problems during the process, and conducting follow-up visits to listen to suggestions afterward.”
In June of this year, the second quarter meeting of the CRO Branch of the China Pharmaceutical Quality Management Association was held in the Yuexiu District Biomedical and Health Industry Talent Reception Hall, attracting widespread attention in the industry. At the scene of the first quarter meeting in March, when it was learned that Haibote Pharmaceutical, a local enterprise with fifteen years of experience in traditional Chinese medicine clinical CRO, intended to host the second quarter meeting, Yuexiu District proactively provided services and invited them to host the meeting. Yuexiu District formed an industrial development “vertical team,” striving on the front line of serving enterprises. “On the day of the meeting, we were surprised to find that Yuexiu District arranged a group of cadres to provide ‘one-to-one’ services for the guests. This was unanimously praised by the guests,” said Wang Shuaishuai, founder of Haibote Pharmaceutical, the conference organizer.
In the future, Yuexiu District will accelerate the introduction of special policies for the biomedical and health industry, continuously promote the empowerment of enterprise development through scenario resources, continuously enhance the sense of gain and satisfaction of enterprises, and effectively transform the results of study and education into the actual results of high-quality development.
