Why talent will flock to China’s Silicon Delta

China’s Pearl River Delta region sits in the south-east of China, surrounding the Pearl River estuary, adjacent to the bustling cities of Hong Kong and Macau. Not long ago, the region was dubbed the ‘factory floor’ of the world because of its collection of industrial powerhouses producing garments, toys, electronics and textiles. These days, however, it is more accurately dubbed the ‘Silicon Delta’: a high-technology and innovation hub for the world’s second-largest economy.

For many Australians, and even Australian companies already doing business in China, this region is relatively unknown. But not for long.

As Australia’s relationship with China strengthens through policy initiatives such as the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, the cities of the Pearl River Delta will soon be as familiar as the established global business centres of Beijing and Shanghai.

For the past 35 years, Guangdong province, where the Delta is located, has been at the heart of China’s economic engine room and reform efforts. It was the country’s manufacturing epicentre and trade and investment gateway for the world.

Today, with wages rising and industrial-sector growth slowing down, Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta are reinventing themselves and adapting to new market dynamics. The region is again at the forefront of China’s economic reform agenda, moving up the economic ladder by focusing more on advanced manufacturing, high-tech, and service industries.

Indeed, Guangdong’s economy has swelled, and is now larger than Indonesia’s, with the region now home to some of the world’s largest high-tech companies.

Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corporation, which make telecommunications equipment and both employ tens of thousands of people, are headquartered in the region. Companies like Lenovo, TCL, BYD, Apple, IBM, Philips, BGI, Lucent and Olympus have manufacturing bases and research and design capabilities in the region.

Many of the Pearl River Delta’s cities, meanwhile, are becoming centres of higher-tech, more advanced manufacturing and services — a transformation that has been propped up by strong government support.

Take Shenzhen, an urban giant of Guangdong with well over 10 million inhabitants, as an example. The city has become a ‘Silicon Valley’ for high-tech hardware, spanning everything from telecoms equipment, information technology, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals to computer manufacturing, smartwatches and aerial drones.

Ample engineering talent and lightning-fast logistics aid the progress from prototype to product, as does plentiful spending on research and development.

In 2013, Shenzhen spent 58 billion yuan, or 4 per cent of the municipality’s GDP, on R & D, more than any other part of the Chinese mainland. The total value of high-tech products made in Shenzhen reached 1.4 trillion yuan in 2013, up 9.3 per cent from the previous year. That accounted for 50.4 per cent of the total output value of industrial enterprises.

Likewise in May this year, the central government in Beijing announced its ‘Made in China 2025’ policy, which aims to promote IT, robotics, aerospace, railways, electric vehicles and other advanced industries in a bid to move China’s economy away from the low-value manufacturing model that fuelled growth in the past.

Shenzhen and the entire Pearl River Delta region have evolved into an advanced manufacturing ecosystem that is changing the social landscape to one that that can stand beside any global metropolis.

The population is becoming wealthier, big business is establishing fast and the infrastructure to support the modern needs of its consumers is being built, including a high-speed train line connecting Hong Kong and Guangzhou. So, where do the opportunities lie for Australians and Australian businesses in this rapidly expanding innovation hub and economic goliath?

Australia’s geographic location, its trade and investment, sophisticated and mobile workforce and its close people-to-people linkages with China make it a hotspot of talent for businesses that can service the demands of this burgeoning region.

Indeed, many Australians are already well versed in the cultural nuances of working in China. In fact, HSBC’s latest Expat Explorer survey found that 16 per cent of Australian expats are currently based in Hong Kong and Mainland China. This will only grow through opportunities like those being offered in areas like the Pearl River Delta.

For global companies like HSBC, we are looking for people with financial services expertise to build out our own presence in the region, so we’re looking to Australia. Indeed, just last week we announced our recruitment strategy to attract Australian talent to the Pearl River Delta — I can assure you, we will not be alone in this endeavour.

Australia’s solid track record for innovation will also attract the attention of companies and policymakers in the Silicon Delta. We are confident this attention will only become stronger following the commitments of Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, to continue to nurture the flourishing entrepreneurial spirit that Australia is increasingly globally renowned for.

While the Pearl River Delta may now be simply a set of impressive growth statistics, this won’t last. The opportunities for people, companies and banks alike are too big to ignore. For Australia, the consumer and business landscape will become three-dimensional very quickly, especially as the broader China-Australia relationship deepens.

Helen Wong is chief executive, Greater China, HSBC.