Chinese tech hub spurs Australian partnerships in innovation, industry

The economic and technology hub of Shenzhen, Guangdong province, is poised to increase investment and innovation for the next stages of high-quality development, with major roles for Australian-Chinese partnerships, according to latest industry trends.

For Australian physician Jack Minas, Shenzhen is the obvious choice to find partners to help manufacture the advanced devices he is working on to better detect cardiovascular diseases.

"Shenzhen is a technology center of the world," Minas, founder of PulseLife Diagnostics, the company behind the medical devices, told China Daily. "There are people and resources there with the skill sets and strengths to engineer and help me realize this equipment."

At the Sydney session of the 2025 Shenzhen Global Investment Promotion Conference on Nov 6, Minas spoke with public and private sector representatives in sectors ranging from technology to trade pointing to the growing opportunities for cooperation and exchange involving Shenzhen's lauded investment and business environment.

Shenzhen boasts a long history of collaboration with Australia, which is now the city's largest trading partner in the Southern Hemisphere, according to the Shenzhen Economic and Trade Office in Australia.

In 2024, the total import and export volume between Shenzhen and Australia reached $11.5 billion, with many major Chinese companies based in the South China metropolis — such as tech giant Tencent and leading automaker BYD — setting up their branches or research and development centers in Australia amid the increasing popularity of their products among Australian consumers, according to the office.

Shenzhen, as the "Silicon Valley of China" and an economic engine of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, will continue to strengthen cooperation with Australia across various sectors, it said.

Since its designation as China's first special economic zone 45 years ago, technological innovation has become a key feature of Shenzhen. Total R&D investment in Shenzhen reached 223.66 billion yuan ($31.38 billion) in 2023 alone, up 18.9 percent year-on-year, marking nine consecutive years of double-digit growth, according to figures from China's National Bureau of Statistics.

At the Sydney session of the conference, sponsored by the Shenzhen municipal government and organized by its investment promotion bureau, Tim James, member of the legislative assembly of Australia's New South Wales state, said his visits to Shenzhen showed him "a thriving marketplace and city on the move".

"It is said to be, and I don't doubt this, the most advanced city in the world insofar as technology and innovation are concerned, and speaks so much to the opportunities it represents," James, who is also the state's shadow minister for small business, said.

Australian companies have expressed optimism about Shenzhen's business environment and market potential, with the New South Wales economic development agency working with the Shenzhen Economic and Trade Office to organize visits to the Chinese city for the state's major biotechnology companies in May.

On Nov 5, a talent exchange and innovation event in Sydney also shed light on the opportunities for Australia-China collaborations involving entrepreneurial talent.

Project presentations hosted by the municipal authorities at the Sydney division of the 9th China (Shenzhen) Innovation and Entrepreneurship International Competition were aimed at leveraging the tech hub's strengths. Participants were drawn from sectors including artificial intelligence, biomedical sciences, new materials, and other cutting-edge fields.

Panel judge Shaun Bornstein told China Daily the benefits of the projects for Shenzhen were very well articulated, including "the synergies, both to Shenzhen as a city and broader China, but also in terms of opportunities in Australia" that went beyond the pillar mining and resources sectors.

Bornstein, senior advisor and partner at Australian wealth management firm Koda Capital, was enthused by the ideas for potential collaboration between the two countries.

"Partnering with Australian universities to then build a business plan that encompasses an economic model across both Australia and China, I think is quite exciting," Bornstein said.

Competition prize winner Nadeesha Chandrasena, an inventor based in Brisbane, Queensland, led a project involving an international team tapping university research and industry expertise to develop smart, internet of things-enabled drainage systems for flood-prone cities.

Her project clinched funding and other support for its next development stage in Shenzhen.

"Shenzhen has the manufacturing, technological and other strengths to build our product," she told China Daily. "It is the place to be."

alexishooi@chinadaily.com.cn