XILI Lake International Science and Education Town is on the fast track for development, as seven higher learning institutions, four Nobel laureate labs and more than 360 innovation incubators have settled in the northern Nanshan area.

The major facilities that have completed construction include Shenzhen Health Science Research Institute, State Key Laboratory of Chemical Oncogenomics, Pengcheng Laboratory, Phase II of the National Super Computing Center, Shenzhen Quantum Science and Engineering Research Institute, Shenzhen Third-generation Semi-Conductor Research Institute, Shenzhen Geim Graphene Research Center and Shenzhen Future Materials Research Institute.

According to a report in the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily yesterday quoting Zou Bing, master planner of the Shenzhen Planning, State Land Development Research Center, the science and education town will be a core area of leading universities, a base for national basic science researches and applications, and a center for innovation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

A strategic node of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macao Science Innovation Corridor, the core area of the science town covers 57.1 square kilometers.

The planning of the town will center around Xili Lake and along the Dasha River. The circular area around Xili Lake will be an area for science and education innovation with a high quality of life prioritizing ecological development. The belt area along the Dasha River will be an area for businesses and startups with an entrepreneurial atmosphere.

The science town will be divided into five major areas, namely Shibilong, Yanqingxi, Baishiling, Liuxiandong and University Town. Each area will have its respective functions and coordinate its development with the others as a whole.

Nanshan District initiated a three-year action plan for its northern area in 2016, and illegal structures around Xili Lake were dismantled to give way to the construction of the science and education town.

In January, Xili Lake Science and Education Town was listed as one of the three strategic projects in Nanshan at the third session of the 7th Nanshan CPC committee.

(Han Ximin)