GUANGZHOU - South China's Guangdong province, an innovation powerhouse, has pledged to support more fundamental and applied research to cultivate more innovation-oriented companies and attract more professionals.

At a provincial sci-tech innovation conference held Monday, Guangdong said that it aimed to become a comprehensive national science center, and it would accelerate construction of four provincial laboratories, and planned to build more.

The southern province was ranked first in China in terms of regional innovation capability in 2017. It is home to the most national high-tech companies, 33,000, nearly 40 percent of which were set up last year. It also has the most high-tech incubators in the country, with Shenzhen an impressive example.

However, the province believes that it needs to beef up fundamental and applied research, optimize research structure and resources, upgrade the growth of innovative companies and attract more top professionals.