Chongqing and Hong Kong explore AI cooperation potential

By Liu Xinyu & Liang Qinqing

(ECNS) – The "Chongqing-Hong Kong AI+ Industry Synergy & Innovation Cooperation" special event was held in Chongqing on Thursday.

Leveraging Hong Kong's unique advantages in global connectivity and Chongqing's solid industrial base, the event aims to build consensus on cooperation in the artificial intelligence sector and establish a strong foundation for mutually beneficial industrial collaboration in the "AI+" sector.

At present, artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping global industrial structures and business models. Chongqing boasts a full-fledged intelligent manufacturing foundation and a wealth of application scenarios, while Hong Kong possesses globally competitive AI research and development, technology transfer, and international cooperation capacity, owing to its world‑class research resources, institutional opening‑up advantages and global platform function.

Zhou Hong, Western Regional Chief Representative of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, noted that Chongqing and Hong Kong have highly complementary strengths and have already enhanced cooperation in multimodal transport.

He said that in recent years, products such as automobiles, robotics and medical devices have become highly popular in Hong Kong, with some companies securing overseas orders via the city.

Zhou added that Hong Kong enjoys advantages in generative AI, embodied intelligence and alignment with international rules, while Chongqing, as the operations and organization center of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, has a robust manufacturing base, making the partnership between the two cities a strong alliance.

"Hong Kong's AI innovation ecosystem has three major characteristics: strong research strength, sufficient platform support and an internationalized system. This is what makes us unique," said Zhang Chengqi, director of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University Shenzhen Research Institute and Chair Professor of Artificial Intelligence.

He noted that Chongqing possesses a complete industrial chain, strong capacity for commercializing research outcomes, a wealth of scenarios and a huge market.

"Hong Kong's strengths are precisely where Chongqing needs to focus, and Chongqing's advantages are exactly what Hong Kong lacks. Deep integration of the two sides will achieve genuine complementarity and win‑win outcomes," Zhang added.

Li Tingyi, chief advisor of PolyU Shenzhen Research Institute, pointed out that Chongqing is home to well‑known new energy vehicle brands, while Hong Kong's international capital and professional service system can strongly support Chongqing companies going global.

"At the same time, Chongqing's abundant industry scenes, business data and solid computing power infrastructure, combined with Hong Kong's international rules and capital advantages, will make AI the most critical 'smart selector' in cooperation between the two sides," Li said.