An underwater robot floats up and down, splashing in the pool from time to time.  Robots in various shapes and wheels march and then bounce on the slope.

Such scenarios stunned delegation members of the Vibrant China Research Tour from June 23 to 24 when visiting tech firms in Dongguan, a city in Guangdong renowned for its high-tech manufacturing.

After thorough introductions of these cutting-edge products by their founders and engineers, one venue has been cited loads of times --- Songshan Lake, standing for a high-tech industrial development zone.

The cradle for innovation

Located in the golden hinterland of Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong SAR, Songshan Lake high-tech industrial development zone have attracted hi-tech enterprises and talents based on its adorable natural environment and robust science and technology root.  

Direct Drive Tech specializing in developing robot actuators is one of the local firms. During the exchange with the delegation, Liu Xitong, Director of external relations of Direct Drive Tech, listed three factors for the company selecting here.  

First, Dongguan possesses powerful manufacturing capabilities and supply chain ecology, which is very important for start-ups to start from scratch. They can turn design concepts into products fast. 

Second, start-ups need to achieve rapid iterations of products in a period of from 1 to 100. They can only achieve this hinging on a robust supply chain system as it can  compress the product iteration cycle as soon as possible then to lead the entire industry.

Finally, there must be policy support from local government. Songshan Lake high-tech industrial development zone is willing to access scenes for them to test products.

After two decades or so since its launch, GDP of the industrial zone reached 100 billion yuan in 2024. The zone's R&D investment rate reached 13.3%. The number of high-tech firms added to 770, and the total number of talents exceeded 240,000.