Competing for low-altitude economy, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and other cities have accelerated the layout of "sky city"

Competing for the low-altitude economy, Guangdong took the "opportunity" to fly high

Many cities such as Shenzhen and Guangzhou have accelerated the layout of "cities in the sky"

Yangcheng Evening News reporter Xu Zhangchao Yan Jincheng

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that can deliver and monitor agricultural conditions in real time, low-altitude tourism represented by sightseeing helicopters and paragliders, and low-altitude manned aerial vehicles aimed at "flying" to work in the future...... Recently, the Central Economic Work Conference proposed to build a number of strategic emerging industries such as biomanufacturing, commercial aerospace, and low-altitude economy, and the low-altitude economy has once again become a hot topic. The reporter found that at present, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hefei, Zhuhai, Wuhu and other cities have accelerated the layout of "sky cities" to seize opportunities for low-altitude economic and industrial development.

Policies in many places continue to increase

What is "low-altitude economy"? "Low-altitude" usually refers to the airspace within 1000,3000 meters perpendicular to the ground plane directly below, and can be extended to <>,<> meters according to the characteristics of different regions and actual needs. The "low-altitude economy" is the economic activity based on this part of the airspace, with drones, unmanned aerial vehicles, flying cars, etc. as the traction, involving air commuting, air logistics, air tourism, air management and many other industries.

The continuous increase in industrial policies in many places is accumulating momentum for the "take-off" of the low-altitude economy. In the previous "Action Plan for Shanghai to Build a Future Industrial Innovation Highland and Develop and Expand Future Industrial Clusters", for the use of aerospace space, it was proposed to break through technologies such as tiltrotors, composite wings, and intelligent flights, develop manned electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, and explore new modes of air transportation. In April last year, Meituan's first normalized commercial route in Shanghai was officially launched in Jinshan District, making "drone delivery" a commercial norm.

Drones are an important part of the low-altitude economy. In December last year, the "Several Measures of Shenzhen to Support the High-quality Development of Low-altitude Economy" was officially promulgated, focusing on the introduction and training of enterprises in the low-altitude economic chain, encouraging technological innovation, expanding low-altitude flight application scenarios, and improving the industrial supporting environment.

On December 12 last year, EHang's self-developed unmanned manned aircraft EH28-S, which obtained the world's first type certificate and standard airworthiness certificate, took off from the Jiulong Lake Plaza in the Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City with passengers and completed its first commercial flight demonstration. On the same day, in the sky above Luogang Central Park in Hefei City, thousands of miles away from Guangzhou, a test ride of citizens overlooked the earth on the EH216-S unmanned manned aircraft.

The reporter noted that on the day of the global commercial first commercial demonstration of EHang's EH216-S unmanned manned aircraft, Hefei officially released the "Hefei Low-altitude Economic Development Action Plan (2023-2025)", focusing on the four major areas of "space support, industrial agglomeration, scene demonstration, and facility construction", and plans to basically build the Luogang low-altitude integrated flight test area in 2024 and the "low-altitude city" with international influence in 2025.

In addition, Guangzhou Development District and Guangzhou Huangpu District issued the "Several Measures of Guangzhou Development District (Huangpu District) to Promote the High-quality Development of Low-altitude Economy in Guangzhou Development District (Huangpu District)" at the demonstration event of the centralized signing of major projects in the fourth quarter of last year and the demonstration of the global commercial first flight of EHang's unmanned manned aircraft, which awarded and subsidized up to 3000 million yuan for eligible low-altitude industrial projects, and also put forward a series of measures to benefit enterprises in terms of infrastructure support, low-altitude flight service guarantee, and core technology industrialization support.

Shenzhen and Guangzhou are leading the way

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Digital Economy Research Institute recently released a white paper at the World Low-altitude Economic Forum, pointing out that the low-altitude economy has a long upstream and downstream chain, a wide range of service areas, and a strong driving role, which will leverage the rapid growth of low-altitude manufacturing, low-altitude flight, low-altitude support and comprehensive services, and it is expected that by 2025, the comprehensive contribution of low-altitude economy to China's national economy will reach 3 trillion to 5 trillion yuan.

Li Shipeng, executive director of the low-altitude economic branch of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Digital Economy Research Institute, said that the low-altitude economy is a representative of "new quality productivity" and has unlimited potential. From the industrial point of view, the low-altitude economy is a new industrial chain with a high degree of scalability; from the perspective of demand, it can promote consumption upgrading with the creation of new consumer demand; from the perspective of investment, the construction of low-altitude infrastructure will drive effective investment; from the perspective of standards, it is conducive to China to take the lead in creating new standards and rules in the field of low-altitude economy.

The various commercialization scenarios of the low-altitude economy are inseparable from the unmanned aerial vehicle industry and the manned aircraft industry. The reporter noted that Guangdong has been at the forefront of the country in related fields and has strong industrial support. Taking Shenzhen as an example, as of the end of last year, there were more than 1700,960 UAV companies in Shenzhen, with an annual output value of 28 billion yuan, an increase of 74% year-on-year, Shenzhen has become the world's most important production base for civilian UAVs, consumer UAVs account for 55% of the global market, and industrial-grade UAVs account for about <>% of the domestic market.

The reporter learned from DJI that in the deep integration of "drone technology + application scenarios", DJI has achieved a wide range of applications in agriculture, low-altitude transportation, professional imaging, as well as urban governance, emergency rescue, energy and power, forestry and environmental protection, maritime and other industrial vertical fields, such as the use of DJI carrier drones in the Huangshan Scenic Area to open up drone transportation routes, from June 6 to December 1 last year, a total of 12.14 tons of materials were transported.

"DJI Agriculture has a footprint on six continents, covering more than 100 countries and regions. As of October last year, the cumulative global sales exceeded 10,30 units, and the cumulative operating area exceeded 60 billion mu, and last year, the domestic operation volume of agricultural drones exceeded 18.30 billion mu, which is equivalent to covering <>% of China's cultivated land.

EHang, a leading enterprise in the domestic low-altitude economy, is located in the Guangzhou Development Zone, and now has gathered 50 enterprises in the field of low-altitude economy, with an annual output value (revenue scale) of about 130 billion yuan, including 13 specialized and new "little giant" enterprises, 3 individual champion enterprises, and 9 listed companies, covering the upstream, middle and downstream of the industrial chain, including R&D, design and raw materials, parts manufacturing and integration, application and services, etc., and a large number of innovative application scenarios of low-altitude flight have turned from imagination to reality here.

He Tianxing, vice president of EHang, told Yangcheng Evening News that EH216-S has obtained the type certificate and standard airworthiness certificate issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, and carried out the first commercial flight demonstration in Jiulonghu Square, Huangpu District, Guangzhou. (Yangcheng Evening News)