THE city will offer subsidies to encourage enterprises, universities and research institutes to start up city-level laboratories.

An enterprise can apply to start up one lab, while research institutes and universities can apply for up to five labs, according to an application guide for key laboratory projects in 2020 released recently by the Shenzhen Municipal Science and Innovation Commission. Each lab can expect to get a subsidy of 5 million yuan (US$714,000).

The subsidy will prioritize labs engaged in the fields of new-generation information technology, high-end equipment manufacturing, green and low-carbon industries, biomedicine, digital economy, new materials, new energy and marine economy.

According to the guide, the applicants should be universities, or institutes registered in Shenzhen that are capable of undertaking major scientific research projects at or above the municipal level.

Enterprise applicants should be influential high-tech enterprises in the industry that are capable of carrying out important scientific research projects and providing key technological support for the city’s industrial and social development.

An applicant must have a strong technological reserve and diffusion capacity, and a stable long-term cooperation relationship with higher learning institutions and research institutes.

Shenzhen’s key laboratories are important innovation carriers for conducting applied fundamental researches, cultivating talents and supporting industrial and social development.

Shenzhen has established some key laboratories in cooperation with Tencent, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School and Shenzhen University in recent years.

(Han Zikai)