The First Senior Officials' Meeting and Related Meetings (SOM1), the first event of APEC China 2026, are being held in Guangzhou from February 1 to 10. During this period, delegates will have the opportunity to explore the mega-capital city and gain valuable insights into urban governance.
Guangzhou boasts dynamic innovation capabilities, which align closely with one of the three priorities of the APEC meeting this year, spanning cutting-edge tech, strategic emerging industries, and global talent exchanges. Follow GO Guangdong to explore how Guangzhou drives innovation in industrial development, strategic cooperation, and vocational education to facilitate diverse partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region.
China, Singapore jointly foster knowledge economy through flagship project
Located in the northeastern part of Guangzhou, China-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City (CSGKC) stands as a national-level cooperation benchmark between the two countries, coping with the digital and AI-driven revolution. It's recognized as a top investment destination for Singaporean enterprises investing in China. Focused on the knowledge economy, it has already established 81 key bilateral cooperation projects and hosts over 300 foreign-invested enterprises, including more than 100 Singaporean companies, operating in fields such as technological innovation, biomedicine, and green development.
Under the Belt and Road Initiative, collaboration has also been established with the Middle East, ASEAN, and Portuguese-speaking countries. As of 2025, the CSGKC has attracted more than 50,000 market entities, 760 billion yuan in registered capital, and 12.5 billion US dollars in cumulative foreign investment. It is home to three industrial clusters, each valued at over 100 billion yuan, including biomedicine, integrated circuits, and new energy vehicles. With over 47,000 students and 7,000 postgraduates, the CSGKC is evolving into a key hub within the Asia-Pacific innovation network.
Guangzhou boasts global leading autonomous driving technologies
During the SOM1, Guangzhou launched a special APEC Guangzhou Pass, which allows delegates to enjoy seamless access to public transportation throughout the city, along with a unique experience of the Robobus shuttle service between the event venues. As one of the highlights of the event, the innovative mobility is supported by the driverless minibus of WeRide, a local autonomous vehicle enterprise in Guangzhou. The service showcases the city's innovation and leading capacity in autonomous driving.
In 2024, local firms WeRide and Pony.ai listed on NASDAQ (the world's first two Robotaxi IPOs). Each enterprise operates over 1,000 global Robotaxis in the global market. WeRide is the only tech company to hold autonomous driving licenses in 8 countries, including China, the UAE, Singapore, and the United States, while operating in more than 30 cities in 11 countries worldwide. Pony.ai has obtained permits in various locations in China and the United States, actively expanding into the Middle Eastern and European markets.
As Han Xu, the founder and CEO of WeRide, noted, Guangzhou's success in autonomous driving lies in its pioneering policies. It was China's first city to allow urban road tests, passenger-carrying trials, and road transport licenses for autonomous vehicles. By August 2025, it had opened over 1,300 test routes with a one-way mileage exceeding 2,600 kilometers. Covering 8 districts, the test routes have served 17 autonomous driving companies.
Today, autonomous driving service is already integrated into daily life in Guangzhou, covering 19 daily routes linking airports, high-speed rail stations, and the city center. In 2025, Pony.ai completed the first autonomous torch relay for the National Games and achieved positive per-vehicle profitability in Guangzhou, with 23 daily rides per car. And these autonomous vehicles are already setting out from this innovative city to more countries and regions worldwide.
Talent training programs share innovation with global partners
In recent years, Guangzhou has fostered more partnerships in the sectors of manufacturing, AI, and the digital economy with other economies. To support the sustainable development of overseas projects, Guangzhou enterprises and education institutes have launched a wide range of talent training projects and fostered people-to-people exchanges.
Boasting a strong new energy vehicle (NEV) industry, Guangzhou has seen a growing number of cooperative projects with partners in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, which drove the demand for talent training in the local markets. To feed the demand, the vocational colleges in Guangzhou partner with enterprises to provide such training projects. For example, in March 2025, Guangzhou Panyu Polytechnic launched the Lingnan Craftsman Academy with GAC AION and its Thai partners in Bangkok, offering tailored NEV training, including production, intelligent operation, inspection, and sales. This innovative model exports Guangzhou's technical standards, cultivates local talent, and strengthens global industrial growth.
In 2024, Guangzhou launched the Guangzhou International Sister City Higher Vocational Education Alliance, which connects local colleges with over 30 universities in 17 countries, including the United States and Australia. Seventeen vocational institutions are already running joint education programs with 8 APEC economies, covering mechatronics, water resources and electric power, rail transit, and other fields.
In addition, digital platforms are used to provide integrated technical training with Chinese language education. Taking Guangzhou Railway Polytechnic as an example, it develops a bilingual online platform with over 30 courses, over 10,000 micro-lectures, and more than 50,000 high-speed rail resources, which provides a standardized digital rail transit resource library for the Belt and Road countries.
Reporter丨Zhou Jiyin
Editor | Yin Juewen
Poster丨Yang Chenyue