Shenzhen held the World Innovative Cities Forum on 18 November at The Langham, Shenzhen hotel in Futian District to spotlight issues that global innovative cities are concerned about, including open innovation and sustainable development.
The two-day forum, which is themed “Jointly Building an Open and Innovative Platform, Rising to Development Challenges of the Times.”
A view of the World Innovative Cities Forum that was held in Futian District yesterday. Zhang Yan
Representatives from 34 institutions in 16 cities of 10 countries attended the offline forum in Shenzhen, while others from 15 organizations in 10 cities of eight countries participated via online channels to share their insights on the related topics.
In a speech at the offline forum, Shenzhen Mayor Qin Weizhong said Shenzhen is willing to share its cooperation achievements on innovative development.
“Shenzhen is hoping to jointly build open and inclusive innovation platforms and take this forum as an opportunity to speed up the flow of innovation resources such as talents, technologies and capitals, and to deepen integration of these resources to seek development opportunities and achieve win-win results via collaboration,” Qin said.
At the same time, the Shenzhen SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) Report Executive Summary 2021 was released at the forum.
The report specifies Shenzhen’s development goals for 2025 and 2030 based on the SDGs adopted by the United Nations in 2015 and includes Shenzhen’s action, measures and experience.
The report says that Shenzhen has made solid progress in implementing SDGs from 2000 to 2020 and noted the overall completion rate has reached over 90 percent.
Beate Trankmann, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) resident representative in China, appreciated Shenzhen’s achievements in implementing SDGs and observed that Shenzhen has set a good example for other cities to achieve SDGs in a keynote speech via video link.
Trankmann urged Shenzhen to further address challenges and demonstrate potential innovations for future development that benefits all citizens.
Other guests, including Kizo Hisamoto, mayor of Kobe in Japan, Tatsuo Igarashi, mayor of Tsukuba in Japan, Lianne Dalziel, mayor of Christchurch in New Zealand, as well as leaders and representatives from the U.K., Poland, Germany, Spain and Thailand, also delivered speeches via video link.
Two thematic sessions on artificial intelligence and global governance and international AI cooperation will be held today.
The forum was hosted by the Foreign Affairs Office of the Shenzhen Municipal Government and Shenzhen Foundation for International Exchange and Cooperation.
Accredited as the first national innovative city and a State demonstration area of independent innovation, Shenzhen has advanced in the notion of reinforcing the joint development of innovation, entrepreneurship, venture capital investment and makers to build the city into a modern international innovative city.
In 2017, China filed around 49,000 applications for international patents, nearly half of which came from the city, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization.
China intends to shape Shenzhen into a modern, global innovation-oriented city and an influential hub of innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity, Xu Nanping, vice minister of science and technology, said in 2020.
(Source | Shenzhen Daily)