Source: Science Daily 2012-03-08 (excerpt)

Guangdong province made great historical strides in major fundamental research and original innovation. While six more scholars from Guangdong were appointed as new academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering, another 45 were awarded the National Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars of China. Besides, 30 Guangdong projects were listed as the 973 Chief Scientist Projects (including National Key Scientific Research Project), which is twice more than the total number of the previous decade (10 projects), and 11 of them with the total state funding of 370 million RMB were authenticated in 2011, ranking the third nationwide only after Beijing and Shanghai in the “first tier” 3 years in row.

Concerning the 2.37 billion RMB National Natural Science Fund Guangdong has ever acquired, 1.06 billion RMB was achieved by 2,101 projects in 2011 which nearly double the number of last year and more than triple that of 2007.

Likewise, nine more laboratories become national key laboratories, which equal to the sum of the two decades before 2008. Six of them were added in 2011, which is two times more than 2007.

In 2011, the largest national key scientific infrastructure – the spallation neutron source of China settled in Guangdong, and after completion it will provide Guangdong with advanced supporting platform for both basic and hi-tech researches in the fields of substance, life science, material, environment, energy and etc.

The year 2009 also witnessed a ground breaking milestone for Guangdong, because for the first time, Guangdong won the first prize of National Natural Science Award.

The year 2011 recorded at historical high: 34 projects in Guangdong won the National Science and Technology Award, among which five were National Natural Science Award, accounting for 1/7 of all winners.