The signing ceremony for the first batch of five projects applying an open competition mechanism to select the best candidates for key research projects was held in Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on Sept 22.

These five projects, which are focused on sectors in distinctive advantageous industries, strategic industries and modern agriculture such as advanced manufacturing, biomedicine and new materials, have a planned investment for research and development of 56 million yuan ($8.66 million). 

It is expected that these projects can help boost the development of relevant upstream and downstream industries, promote the industrial and rural revitalization in ethnic minority areas as well as turn scientific innovation into the core drive for Guilin's high-quality industrial growth. 

Zhang Xiaoyang, director of the Guilin science and technology bureau, said that the bureau will encourage more small and medium-sized companies, higher education institutes and research intuitions to participate in Guilin's open competition mechanism to further enhance the industry-university-research cooperation.

Zhang Xiaofei, an official from the Science and Technology Department of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, spoke highly of Guilin's efforts in pushing forward scientific innovation during the event.