Can you imagine it? There is a kind of powder so fine that it appears as mere dust, yet under magnification, it is actually composed of minuscule spheres called phase-change microcapsules, which can encapsulate virtually anything you can think of. Behind these tiny capsules lies the winning formula of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou "Innovation Triangle."
In 2025, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou innovation cluster rose to the top of the world rankings for the first time. This achievement was no coincidence. It is powered by a clearly structured and highly efficient innovation ecosystem. Hong Kong thinks far ahead, Shenzhen executes with speed, while Guangzhou provides solid support. Together, they form a formidable alliance. Within a 100-kilometer radius of the three cities, from idea to IPO, a fully functional closed loop for innovation is already up and running.
Cui Junjie, CEO and co-founder of Guangzhou New Materials Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. (NMI), traced the company's evolution during his interview with SFC. He recounted, "We started in a laboratory at the Clear Water Bay campus of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), focusing on early-stage microencapsulation technological exploration." This foundational R&D phase in Hong Kong was followed by a strategic move north. "Later, we relocated to the HKUST Fok Ying Tung Research Institute in Guangzhou," he noted, explaining that this shift marked the beginning of their engineering scale-up and commercialization efforts. The company reached a key milestone in 2024 by securing its angel funding round. Cui highlighted their current focus: "We are now advancing technologies in automotive pre-applied adhesives and latent curing agents for semiconductors." He emphasized the significance of this work, stating that it "breaks foreign monopolies in these critical areas."
The growth trajectory of NMI is a vivid embodiment of the path: "R&D in Hong Kong→commercialization in the Chinese mainland→manufacturing in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area." And stories of such transformation are happening every day within the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou innovation cluster.
Zhang Wenze, co-founder of Guangzhou Smartech Automation Co., Ltd., highlighted the pivotal support his venture received within the cluster. After taking the first place at the 2024 HKUST One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition in Guangzhou, the company established its operations and production at the HKUST (Guangzhou) Sci-tech Achievement Transfer and Transformation Base, where they have secured both the necessary investment and a significant volume of orders.
"The Greater Bay Area is the only region in the world where mechatronics technology and AI technology simultaneously reside." This quote from NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang is no exaggeration. The Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou innovation cluster is not a patchwork of resources, but a deeply interconnected innovative collaboration system, unleashing a "fusion effect" where 1+1+1 > ∞.
From Hong Kong West Kowloon Station to Guangzhou South Station, a 48-minute high-speed train ride connects three major science hubs. Along the route are two national laboratories, 45 national key laboratories, and 76,000 nationally accredited high-tech enterprises. Guangdong's nine trillion-yuan-level industrial clusters continuously drive down costs and reinforce the backbone of innovation.
Individual champions are common to see, but team gold medals belong only to those that can integrate research, commercialization, manufacturing, capital, and markets into one seamless, end-to-end chain. In the years ahead, this innovation hotspot will continue to write new chapters of China's prowess in technological innovation.
