AUCKLAND -- Two of the major cities of China and New Zealand on Monday launched a project to drive high-tech start-up collaborations between the two countries.

The cooperation will see the InnoHub innovation incubator, based in Guangzhou, capital of southern China's Guangdong province, invest up to NZ$20 million ($13.52 million) into its counterpart in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city and home to a third of the population.

The investment would help Auckland's GridAKL support Chinese-New Zealand start-up companies in the information technology (IT) sector, Auckland Mayor Len Brown told Xinhua in an exclusive interview at the Tripartite Economic Summit of leaders from Guangzhou, Auckland and the US city of Los Angeles Monday.

"Primarily most of it is there as a fund to encourage IT companies who are engaged in business between Auckland and Guangzhou, so it's to encourage the ability to commercialize new ideas and new technology coming out of Auckland and Guangzhou, to build a high-tech relationship between the two cities," Brown said.

"One of the big growers in Auckland is film animation and we're global leaders in the industry."

He cited Auckland-based Flux Animation, which has signed a series of agreements with companies in Guangzhou, as indicative of the possibilities of the cooperation.

However, he said, no companies had yet emerged from the cooperation as it was still too new.