Optics Valley receives $5.43b investment in HK

East Lake High-tech Development Zone (Optics Valley of China) in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province, received investment for three projects worth 37 billion yuan ($5.43 billion) at the 2018 Hubei-Hong Kong Economic and Trade Cooperation Seminar, which was held in Hong Kong on Sept 3. 

Officials from Hubei province and Wuhan city attended the seminar. Liu Ziqing, director of Optics Valley's administrative committee, signed the agreements.

The three projects cover the internet, biomedicine, culture and sports industries.

Among them, China Resources Group, a diversified holding company based in Hong Kong, plans to build an internet innovation base in Optics Valley, with a focus on mobile application services, intelligent hardware design, information security, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence, with the aim of building a hub for the mobile internet industry with global influence.

China Traditional Chinese Medicine Holdings, a core company of China National Pharmaceutical Group, plans to invest in the zone to establish its headquarters, as well as building the largest Chinese medicine decoction center and facilities to produce patented Chinese medicine and pellet formula in central China.

Shimao Group, an international real estate investment group, plans to build a large-scale comprehensive project integrating culture, sports, entertainment and business in the zone. 

Optics Valley is one of the first batch of national high-tech zones, and is the country's second national independent innovation demonstration zone. It is also the national optoelectronic information industry base and a national bio-industry base.

From January to August this year, the zone attracted investment of 121.3 billion yuan, with 60 projects worth more than 100 million yuan each. 

A total of 13,000 new companies have been established in Optics Valley during an eight-month period, with an average of 73 new companies a day making the area their home. More than 70,000 companies are currently based in the zone.

The 2018 Hubei-Hong Kong Economic and Trade Cooperation Seminar is held in Hong Kong on Sept 3. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Representatives from Hubei province and Hong Kong shake hands after signing cooperation agreements at the seminar, Sept 3. [Photo provided to China Daily]