Author(s)

Liu Yingxia, Deng Rui, Liao Zhiyuan, Jiang Mingzheng, Zhou Wenjing, Lin Xuejun

Corresponding Author

Lin Xuejun

ABSTRACT

For more than 40 years since the Reform and Opening Up, innovation has driven China’s economy to grow steadily. In recent years, however, due to the overcapacity in some industries and the increase of factor costs, the comparative advantages of the value chain that relied on exports and low production factors have been rapidly reduced. To become an international first-class bay area, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is supposed to take the initiative to embed Global Innovation Chain (GIC) into Global Value Chain (GVC) and to promote industrial upgrading with innovative development. The main purpose of this paper is to study how Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area integrates innovation elements through urban division of labor, with its focus on the advantages of the three core cities — Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and how to take advantage of the three cities to promote the coordinated innovation of surrounding cities. Adopting the location quotient, this paper analyzed the industrial distribution of the Greater Bay Area in all aspects of the innovation chain, and defined the problems and causes of industrial division of the Greater Bay Area. Then, by fully considering the geospatial and resource elements of 11 cities in the Greater Bay Area, and learning from the successful experience of international first-class bay areas, we will optimize the allocation of the innovation elements, and promote the industrial upgrading and the industry’s position in Global Value Chain with Global Innovation Chain.

KEYWORDS

Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Urban division of labor, Global innovation chain, Location quotient, Collaborative innovation