On February 18th, the first working day after the Chinese New Year holiday, the Guangdong Provincial High-Quality Development Conference kicked off in Shenzhen. The ongoing conference in Shenzhen marks the first gathering of the economically thriving Guangdong Province since last year's event in Guangzhou, which has continuously sounded the clarion call for advancing towards high-quality development after the Chinese New Year.

For two consecutive years, the Guangdong Provincial High-Quality Development Conference has focused on the same theme, which, to some extent, serves as a "compass" indicating the economic direction. It fully demonstrates the important position of high-quality development in the overall work of Guangdong and the province's determination to seize the time and opportunities to promote high-quality development.

At the 2023 Guangdong Provincial High-Quality Development Conference, Guangdong set the goal of "creating a new Guangdong." By 2023, the regional GDP has reached 13.57 trillion yuan, making Guangdong the first province to surpass 13 trillion yuan mark. In 2024, where will the increment of high-quality development in Guangdong be directed? The answer lies in a modern new Guangdong that relies on innovation for progress, strength, and victory.

High-quality development is fundamentally driven by innovation. In the morning session of the conference, Guangdong presented a remarkable list of achievements empowered by "new strength." By 2023, Guangdong's comprehensive regional innovation capacity has topped the other countries in China for seven consecutive years. To be more specific, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou science and technology cluster has ranked second globally for four consecutive years, and the number of high-tech enterprises and small and medium-sized technology companies registered has exceeded 70,000. Beyond highlighting these achievements, representatives from various cities, provincial departments, enterprises, and the science and education sectors eagerly shared their thoughts and approaches, not only to set ambitious goals but also to demonstrate determination and innovative strategies. In the new stage of development, Guangdong is in urgent need to "promote quality through innovation" by driving the mutual reinforcement of industries and technology to inject new impetus and advantages into high-quality development.

To make every effort to promote innovation and reach new heights in industrial technology, Guangdong has put forward four key objectives: valuing talents as treasures and taking the initiative in talent work to better grasp the initiative of innovation and development; striving together with enterprises to promote the gathering of innovative resources in high-quality enterprises and empower them; leveraging the market to nurture vitality by effectively transforming the unique advantage of a vast market into an advantage and winning edge for accelerating innovative development; seeking vitality from reforms, expanding industrial and technological innovation in broader spaces and enhancing self-reliance in science and technology through open cooperation.

龙年春节假期后的首个工作日，全省高质量发展大会在深圳召开。从去年到今年，从广州到深圳，经济大省广东的新春第一会，持续吹响向高质量发展进军的集结号。

广东新春第一会连续两年聚焦同一主题，某种程度上具有“风向标”意义，充分彰显了高质量发展在广东工作全局中的重要位置，以及全省上下抢抓时间、抢抓机遇推动高质量发展的奋进姿态。

去年的全省高质量发展大会上，广东喊出“再造一个新广东”的目标，2023年地区生产总值达到13.57万亿元，成为全国首个突破13万亿元的省份。2024年，广东高质量发展增量向何处寻？回音铿锵有力：“奋力建设一个靠创新进、靠创新强、靠创新胜的现代化的新广东。”。

高质量发展本质上是创新驱动发展。在上午的大会上，广东晒出了“含新力”满满的成绩单：截至2023年，广东区域创新综合能力连续7年全国第一，“深圳-香港-广州科技集群” 连续4年全球第二，高新技术企业、入库中小型科技企业数量双双超过7万家……在亮成绩之外，各地市、省直有关部门和企业界、科技教育界代表竞相发言，既是亮目标比决心，也是亮思路晒方法。立足新发展阶段，广东迫切需要“以新提质”，推动产业与科技互促双强，为高质量发展注入新动能、增添新优势。

全力以赴抓创新，向着产业科技高峰全力攀登，广东响亮提出了“四个要”：要视人才为珍宝，以人才工作的主动，更好掌握创新的主动、发展的主动；要与企业同奋斗，推动创新资源向优质企业集聚，让企业把腰杆子挺起来；要用市场育动能，把超大规模市场这一独特优势，切实转化为加快创新发展的优势、胜势；要向改革要活力，在更广阔的空间布局产业科技创新，在开放合作中提升科技自立自强能力。