Guangdong raises its game

Scientists say Tianhe-2, the world's fastest supercomputer introduced to Guangzhou last year, will boost Guangdong's industrial innovation. CHINA DAILY

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When the world's fastest supercomputer, Tianhe-2, was introduced last year to Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, many scientists and researchers believed it would help boost innovation and upgrade traditional industries in the southern province.

"Like many urban infrastructure projects such as expressways, the supercomputer will help build a driving force for construction of an innovation-oriented economy in Guangdong, which has long been labeled as one of the major manufacturing bases in the world," says Wang Jian, the president of BGI, a biotech company in Shenzhen.

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The Tianhe-2, or Milkyway-2, which was developed by China's National University of Defense Technology, has a peak performance speed of 54.9 quadrillion operations a second, putting it in first place in the Top 500 list of the world's most powerful supercomputers.

"Ranking first is not the only important thing," Wang says. "The supercomputer supports local companies in scientific research and management, helping them to better upgrade,"

For example, nearly 100 pharmaceutical enterprises in Guangzhou, with a combined output value of about 12 billion yuan ($1.92 billion), have high demand for pharmacological experimental data operations, Wang says.

"Advanced facilities such as the supercomputer will help these companies better conduct experiments and data analysis."

Introduction of the supercomputer represents the first of several efforts by the Guangdong government to enable its industries to move up from manufacturing to a more innovation-driven economy, Wang says.

Officials at the provincial science and technology department say Guangdong has signed a series of strategic cooperation agreements with some leading domestic science and research institutes to introduce advanced technologies to the province.

"Following the introduction of a number of high-tech projects, we have made breakthroughs in some key industrial areas," Huang Ningsheng, director of the Guangdong Science and Technology Department, told Nanfang Daily.