China's Greater Bay Area is emerging as a regional and global innovation hub, said industry experts and investors at a CGTN panel discussion presented in collaboration with the Beyond Tech Expo, which has opened its online event and offline gathering is scheduled from December 2 to 4.

"It's very unique because it includes Hong Kong, Macao (SARs) and Guangdong Province. Guangdong is one of China's biggest regions, Hong Kong is a financial center of the whole world, and Macao is an entertainment center in Asia," said Jason Ho, co-founder of the Beyond Tech Expo.

"People should really look at this area. It's going to be a vibrant area. It's very attractive for the Western world to come to Hong Kong or Macao, to join forces with talents in the [Chinese] mainland," he said.

Brian Gu, vice chairman and president of electric carmaker XPeng Motors, pointed out distinctions of the Greater Bay Area as against its global counterparts, most notably, a variety of cultural and regulatory frameworks that cater to companies of different needs.

With Hong Kong as an established global financial hub, Guangdong as a manufacturing base and Macao as a leisure center with rising tech prowess, all this will contribute to the area's rise as an ideal hub for businesses at different stages of development, Gu added.

The Greater Bay Area is gaining stronger momentum than China's traditional innovation centers like Beijing and Shanghai, observed James Mi, founding partner of Lightspeed China Partners, a China-focused early-stage venture capital fund. 

Mi also noted a strong entrepreneurial spirit in the area, which is "coupled with financial resources in Hong Kong and Macao" and will translate into "potential for innovation."

Echoing other panelists' views, David Scott Aikman, former chief representative of World Economic Forum, Greater China, said the rise of the Greater Bay Area speaks to the "China speed." 

He said that clustering of innovation centers in Guangdong Province ensures fast innovation, with nimble and agile companies powering the economic dynamism. That, coupled with rapid adoption of technologies, is generating "unparalleled" development, said Aikman who believed the Greater Bay Area is serving an engine that is set to propel the "greater acceleration" in the "China speed."