During this year's Two Sessions, good news was announced at a press conference for the Guangdong delegation: for the first time, the "Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou" innovation cluster has topped the Global Innovation Index ranking of the world's 100 largest clusters. This historic milestone has put the spotlight on the Greater Bay Area. Last year, more than 1.1 million university graduates chose to start their careers in Guangdong, fueling the cluster's talent base.

Gao Song, NPC Deputy, President of Sun Yat-sen University:
Nearly 7,000 graduates—72% of the 2025 class—remained in Guangdong. We also recruited more than 200 scholars for faculty positions last year, including nearly 20% at the professor level, with a notable rise in high-caliber national faculty.

Major national science projects, including the Cold Spring Ecosystem Research Facility, the Human Cell Lineage Facility, and Guangzhou Laboratory, are now based in the cluster. These initiatives are accelerating the transition from laboratory breakthroughs to industrial applications.

Jiang Taijiao, NPC Deputy, Guangzhou Laboratory Researcher:
By leveraging the Greater Bay Area's unique advantages, we aim to integrate premier life science resources from Hong Kong, Macao, and the mainland to build a world-class collaborative hub for biomedicine R&D and translation in South China.

Hong Kong deputies said the cluster's rise to global No. 1 is a powerful testament to the region's synergistic innovation.

Ngek Lau, NPC Deputy, Member of HKSAR Legislative Council:
Hong Kong's universities are pushing the frontiers of research. We are addressing challenges that could hinder the country a decade from now—starting the work today to ensure those bottlenecks never arise. This is one of the main focuses of our education sector.