The plaque unveiling ceremony for the Industrial Technology Research Institute of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region takes place on Aug 23. [Photo provided by Guangxi Science and Technology Bureau to gxnews.com.cn]

The plaque for the Industrial Technology Research Institute of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region was unveiled on Aug 23 in Nanning, marking a new effort made by Guangxi to establish high-caliber new research and development institutes.

The research institute is a new type of independent legal entity set up with the approval of the Guangxi government. A professional institute will be set up under the research institute for functions like carrying out demand-oriented R&D, gathering innovation outcomes for secondary development, and incubating technological companies.

The establishment of the research institute was urgently needed as Guangxi currently has been in a critical period for its industrial transformation and upgrading.

Cao Kunhua, director of the Guangxi Science and Technology Bureau and Party secretary of the research institute, noted that the institute will initially form a market-oriented system for management this year, as well as build, co-build or join more than eight professional research institutes.

Cao added that new R&D institutes with excellent self-development ability and international influence will be built from 2021 to 2025, while a batch of high-caliber scientists, scientific leading talents, and teams will be introduced to make great breakthroughs in major areas like new functional materials, biological manufacturing, as well as big data.

By 2025, the research institute is expected to build, co-build or join around 50 professional research institutes, cultivate about 200 technological companies, achieve more than 200 breakthroughs in key or generic technologies, as well as transform and upgrade over 1,000 advanced technologies.