The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area being built in China has the opportunity to become a globally leading innovation center, with all critical elements available.

Those elements are government support, financial resources, engineering talents, university clusters and industry clusters, said Clare Fairfield, chairman of Venture Capital Institute of America, at the First Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Venture Capitalist 50 Forum held in Guangzhou on Thursday.

Significant challenges to the area on the path to such an innovation center lie in the fact cities in the area have historically operated independently and competed with one another, he said.

The design of the innovation system should be top-down, with top-level management to coordinate resources.

The coordination is meant to avoid duplication by cities, reduce competition between cities, coordinate the efficient use of resources and the system operation, and help individual cities focus on existing and developing areas of historical expertise.

"The fundamental job of the central management of the Greater Bay Area is to make sure all entrepreneurial ecosystem elements are available within the system and easily accessible," Fairfield said.

Meanwhile, the number of high-tech companies in Guangzhou — one of the core cities in the Greater Bay Area — is expected to surpass 10,000 by the end of this year, up from 8,690 at the end of last year, said Wang Dong, deputy mayor of Guangzhou.

The Guangzhou Science Technology and Innovation Commission and Guangzhou Financial Affairs Bureau issued policies for encouraging investment into innovation and entrepreneurial businesses and for the development of venture capital at the forum, respectively.