SHENZHEN ranks fifth in a worldwide bay area city influence research report, following New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong and San Francisco.
The report on the influence of the world’s four major bay areas was jointly released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Dr. Sun Yat-sen Institute on Monday.
San Jose, Guangzhou, Newark, Yokohama, Oakland, New Haven, Macao, Kawasaki and Bridgeport round out the top 14 influential bay cities worldwide.
Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao are major cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Their inclusion in the top 14 cities indicates the Greater Bay Area’s influence, according to the report. The four central cities exert great influence in the area.
The Greater Bay Area ranks third in general, after San Francisco and New York bay areas, coming ahead of the Tokyo bay area, according to the report. In the economic influence ranking, the Greater Bay Area comes in at the top. In innovation, it ranks second.
However, the Greater Bay Area scores much lower than the three other bay areas in per capita GDP, GDP per square km, business environment and the proportion of the tertiary industry. This shows a considerable gap between the Greater Bay Area and the bay areas in developed countries in terms of the quality of development and level of innovation.
The report suggests Greater Bay Area cities improve the innovation environment, enhance innovation and entrepreneurship education in universities, and stimulate the vitality of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Livability is also a shortfall of the Greater Bay Area, as the report urges the area to improve livability planning and make greater efforts in the construction of public service facilities, the protection of the environment and cultural enrichment.
As regional integration deepens in the Greater Bay Area, economic and social contact will continuously increase in the region, according to the report, which expects a further rise in the area’s international influence and status in the future.
(Lin Min) | 