At the intersection of a new round of global technological revolution and industrial transformation, a grand scientific event that gathered global wisdom and sparked innovative ideas concluded on the shores of the South China Sea. On December 9, 2025, the multi-day Greater Bay Area Science Forum successfully concluded in Nansha, Guangzhou. This was not merely an academic conference, but a clear signal that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is deeply participating in and shaping the future of global science and technology with a new image as an international science and technology innovation center. The forum, themed "Intelligent Innovation in the Greater Bay Area: Industry-Research Collaboration," presented a panoramic view of the entire innovation path—from the "first mile" of basic research to the "last mile" of industrial application—through nearly 60 intensive activities.

In the wave of a new round of global technological revolution and industrial transformation, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area stands at the forefront of the world's science and technology stage as an international center for scientific and technological innovation. This scientific event held in Nansha, Guangzhou, has not only become an academic conference that brings together global wisdom, but also a new window to observe how the innovation engine of southern China drives the future and explore the entire chain from basic research to industrial application.

From technological breakthroughs to industrial applications, from international cooperation to talent cultivation, from cutting-edge technologies to humanistic care, this forum comprehensively showcased the practical explorations of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in building an international science and technology innovation center, providing technological support and innovative impetus for the region's high-quality development.

　　Smart Innovation Bay Area: Industry-Research Collaboration

Outlining the panoramic view of the innovation chain

Science and technology are the primary productive forces, and industry is the cornerstone of the national economy. Currently, technological innovation and industrial development are not only important drivers for China's high-quality development but also key elements in shaping a new development pattern. This forum, themed "Intelligent Innovation and Industry-Academia Collaboration in the Greater Bay Area," highlights the driving force behind the Greater Bay Area's development—driven by intelligent innovation and powered by deep integration of industry, academia, and research, jointly promoting regional coordinated development and capacity enhancement.

Throughout the forum, the concept of "industry-academia collaboration in the Greater Bay Area" was consistently emphasized. Multiple sub-forums and various activities showcased the innovation chain of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, from basic research to technological breakthroughs, from成果转化 (technology transfer) to science and technology finance and talent support.

At the forefront of the innovation chain, this forum focused on global technological hotspots and explored key technological innovations and breakthroughs through cutting-edge topics such as the "Artificial Intelligence Sub-Forum and the 6th China (Guangdong) Artificial Intelligence Forum" and the "Embodied Intelligence Integration Sub-Forum." Around the forefront of intelligent technologies such as big data, high-performance computing, and large-scale models, as well as directions such as technological breakthroughs, application scenarios, and interdisciplinary integration, numerous academicians, artificial intelligence experts, and representatives from leading enterprises from home and abroad conducted in-depth discussions on the innovative development and scientific governance of artificial intelligence, and exchanged views on the implementation paths of embodyed intelligence in scenarios such as Industry 4.0, smart healthcare, and home services.

 　　Embossed intelligent products showcased at the 2025 Greater Bay Area Science Forum

The "Artificial Intelligence Sub-Forum and the 6th China (Guangdong) Artificial Intelligence Forum" saw the release of several of the latest domestic AI achievements. These included the release of the "Artificial Intelligence Frontier Technology Trend Report 2025" by the China Institute of Scientific and Technical Information; the joint release of the "Zhihui Xuzhu Large Model" by Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area National Technology Innovation Center, targeting the industrial software sector; the release of the "Pengcheng Brain-Star Language 2.0" multilingual speech translation large model by Pengcheng Laboratory; and the release of the China Unicom Yuanjing Wanwu (Intelligent Research) Intelligent Agent Development Platform by China United Network Communications Co., Ltd. These achievements, ranging from trend analysis to platform construction, demonstrate my country's continuous breakthroughs in basic AI research, platform development, and industrial applications, injecting new momentum into industry innovation.

 　　Scientific and technological achievements showcased at the 2025 Greater Bay Area Science Forum

To focus on the practical application of innovative achievements, the forum held the "Chinese Academy of Sciences-Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Achievement Matchmaking Meeting." At the meeting, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) showcased 123 major achievements from 33 institutions across seven key areas: large-scale scientific facilities, low-altitude economy, marine ranching, artificial intelligence, new energy storage, biomedicine, and the "Hundred, Thousand, Ten Thousand Project," aiming to promote the transfer and transformation of CAS's latest high-quality scientific and technological achievements in Guangdong. This is the second time CAS has held such a matchmaking event during the forum. Last year, CAS partnered with Guangdong enterprises and institutions, resulting in the efficient implementation of 12 signed projects with an investment of 670 million yuan. The meeting also included the release of a report on the innovative development achievements of CAS's major scientific and technological infrastructure in Guangdong. To date, CAS has deployed 10 major scientific and technological infrastructure projects in Guangdong, with five expected to be operational by 2025. These facilities play a crucial role in supporting the integration of scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation and leading future industrial development.

In terms of "talent support," the forum, through platforms such as the "2025 High-Level Talent Hub Construction Forum and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Talent-Led Modern Industrial System Construction Forum," focused on the theme of building a world-class talent center and innovation hub, exploring talent attraction and cultivation, ecosystem optimization, and sustainable development, thus contributing to consolidating the foundation of innovative talent in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Participants noted that in recent years, Guangzhou Nansha has been making every effort to build a talent hub. On the one hand, Nansha is linking with Hong Kong and Macao as "free ports," integrating into "international" talent development rules. On the other hand, it is building Nansha "Science City," establishing a "national-level" talent development platform. Simultaneously, Nansha is cultivating the "Hong Kong, Science, and Broadcasting" hub, constructing an "open" talent development ecosystem, and creating a "young" talent development environment.

From promoting scientific research to the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, and then to talent support, the various activities of this forum are seen as interconnected, forming an effective demonstration of the complete closed loop of building a science and technology innovation ecosystem in the Greater Bay Area, and interpreting the thinking mode and practical path of building a full-process innovation ecosystem in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

　　Smart Guangzhou, Air and Sea Integration:

Anchoring the new coordinates of future industries

Currently, serving as a key hub for the international science and technology innovation center is one of the core functions entrusted to Guangzhou by the nation. Guangzhou is fully committed to undertaking the strategic deployment of national scientific and technological resources. At the Greater Bay Area Science Forum, Guangzhou proposed to gradually increase the proportion of government investment in science and technology in its fiscal budget, and to leverage more social capital for early, small-scale, long-term, and hard-core technology investments through reforms such as "subsidizing instead of investing" in fiscal funds and the establishment of the Guangzhou Science and Technology Innovation Fund. Simultaneously, Guangzhou is actively promoting the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, guided by the construction of a modern industrial system, and has issued the "Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Cultivation and Development of Future Industries," as well as support policies for various sub-sectors such as intelligent unmanned systems. Guangzhou is establishing a pilot zone for future industries and iteratively launching a list of first-time trial and demonstration application scenarios, providing a real and high-standard verification platform for cutting-edge technologies. Furthermore, regarding the technology transfer mechanism, Guangzhou has implemented several measures to further promote the transfer and transformation of scientific and technological achievements, constructing a full-chain system of "strategic scientific and technological resources as the source, enterprise innovation as the main driver, national innovation and technology transfer centers as the coordinators, and diversified capital support," creating a Guangzhou model for technology transfer.

It is worth noting that Guangzhou's forward-looking plans and investment directions were fully reflected and implemented in the forum's specific agenda. During the forum, a series of activities, represented by the "Low Altitude Technology and Engineering Sub-Forum" and the "Marine Science and Marine Industry Sub-Forum," closely aligned with the local industrial foundation and development direction of Nansha District in Guangzhou, fully demonstrating the characteristics and priorities of regional development.

For example, at the "Marine Science and Marine Industry Sub-Forum," Beijing Normal University and Guangzhou Marine Laboratory held a signing ceremony for a cooperation agreement to jointly establish the Beijing Normal University Future Ocean Academy. The two sides will conduct in-depth joint talent training and strengthen cooperation in scientific research. Guangzhou Marine Laboratory also showcased its recent major scientific research progress. The UN "Decade of Ocean Science" mega-science program—the impact of methane leakage on global climate—and the "Decade of Science Science" mega-science program—the mystery of marine cold seep interfaces, both initiated by the laboratory, have been officially approved. Around the theme of "South China Sea and Deep-Sea Exploration and Development," the participants also conducted in-depth discussions on scientific blind spots and technological bottlenecks in the national marine strategy. Many of these topics are highly aligned with the locational advantages and industrial endowments of the Nansha Islands.

As the host city of the Greater Bay Area Science Forum, Guangzhou Nansha boasts a natural advantage in terms of location and facilities for undertaking its marine science and technology mission. Situated at the intersection of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong and Guangzhou-Zhuhai-Macau "Y-shaped" science and technology innovation corridors, it possesses world-class fully automated terminals and deep-water research wharves, supporting an efficient international shipping system—the port handles over 20 million TEUs annually, with more than 170 foreign trade routes. This lays a solid logistical and open foundation for the agglomeration and development of the marine economy. In 2024, Nansha's marine GDP accounted for 20.6% of the district's total GDP, essentially forming a modern marine industry system supported by leading marine industries and driven by technological innovation.

Based on its industrial and logistics foundation, Nansha is focusing on transforming its locational and infrastructure advantages into innovative support capabilities, accelerating the application of scientific research potential in industry. To promote the integration of scientific research achievements with distinctive industries, Nansha has established a technology transfer alliance, which has already gathered 192 innovation entities and service institutions. Simultaneously, by creating the nation's first unmanned system super-scenario encompassing land, sea, and air, and by building the International Advanced Technology Application Promotion Center (Greater Bay Area) and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Scenario Innovation Center, Nansha has constructed an innovation ecosystem covering "scenario-application-transformation." Through "five-port linkage," Nansha is accelerating the construction of five major highlands: industry, science and technology innovation, openness, talent, and livability, propelling Nansha from being based in the Greater Bay Area to transcending and leading the Greater Bay Area, and from facing the world to going global and integrating into the world.

　　Wisdom Gathering in the Greater Bay Area, Moving Forward Together:

Drawing a New Blueprint for Scientific and Technological Innovation Development

According to the attendees, Nansha's development is not only a microcosm of Guangzhou's scientific and technological innovation efforts, but also reflects the new practice of deeply integrating technological innovation into industrial development in Guangdong and even the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The latest testament to this practice lies in the Greater Bay Area's historic leap across the global innovation landscape.

Since 2025, as a key city in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Guangzhou has adhered to the principle of simultaneously serving national strategic needs and seizing global technological frontiers. It has achieved a series of breakthroughs and significant progress in multiple strategic fields, rising to 6th globally in the Nature Index – Research Cities ranking. In terms of technology transfer, Guangzhou has established a "3371" model to address the challenges of "reluctance to transfer" and "inability to transfer." This model designs a path for technology transfer that is driven by strategic scientific and technological strength, supported by dual hub platforms (the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area National Technology Innovation Center and the Guangzhou Branch of the National University Regional Technology Transfer and Transformation Center), and fueled by financial innovations such as "supplementary investment and reform." At the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), a pilot program of "faculty-student co-creation" and "investment before equity" has successfully incubated over 170 faculty-student entrepreneurial projects.

With Guangzhou as a prime example, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has once again delivered impressive results: the latest Global Innovation Index report released by the World Intellectual Property Organization shows that the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou innovation cluster has jumped to first place globally for the first time, becoming a crucial growth pole leading global scientific and technological cooperation. The enhanced capabilities of innovation platforms have also injected strong momentum into Guangdong's scientific and technological breakthroughs. Data shows that the province's R&D expenditure intensity has steadily increased from 3.14% in 2020 to 3.6% in 2024.

The enhancement of hard power has directly driven breakthroughs in scientific research achievements and innovation quality. In 2024, Guangdong Province saw record highs in the number of national science and technology awards, approved National Natural Science Foundation of China projects, and the amount of funding received, marking the province's overall level of basic research as entering the top tier in China. From its innovation clusters reaching global leadership to its comprehensive system of large-scale scientific facilities, from continuous increases in R&D investment to the emergence of breakthroughs in basic research, Guangdong is accelerating its transformation into a globally influential industrial and technological innovation center through a comprehensive science and technology layout.

Looking at these achievements, the participants believed that this forum has demonstrated to the world more clearly how the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area city cluster, with its unique institutional advantages, complete industrial system, vibrant market forces, and increasingly strong innovation atmosphere, is exploring an innovative development path driven by "intelligent innovation" and characterized by "integration." This is not only a significant opportunity for the Greater Bay Area's own development, but also a contribution of "Chinese wisdom" and a feasible path to global scientific development and cooperation.