WAIC 2025： UNIDO jointly shape an Inclusive Digital Future

2025-08-29

From July 25 to 28, 2025, Mr. Zou Ciyong, Deputy to the Director General and Managing Director of the Directorate of Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Industrial Development of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), led a delegation to attend the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC 2025) in Shanghai. During the conference, UNIDO comprehensively demonstrated the positive role of UN agencies as neutral convenors and highlighted its various initiatives in promoting global digital and industrial intelligent transformation based on the key issues such as advancing inclusive global AI governance, building practical cooperation platforms, bridging the digital divide, and empowering developing economies.

 

Three Key Proposals: Providing UNIDO's Perspective on Global AI Governance

 


At the High-level Meeting on Global AI Governance, Zou Ciyong put forward three key proposals from UNIDO:

  • The United Nations, as a global neutral convenor, can play a bridging role in AI governance.

  • In facing the dividends and challenges brought by AI, all parties should explore and design balanced governance pathways that equally emphasize seizing opportunities and managing risks, adhering to the principles of being systematic, forward-looking, and risk-controllable.

  • Achieving inclusive and balanced governance requires the joint efforts of all countries in a spirit of open cooperation, supported by practical mechanisms and tools.

 

UNIDO proposed that its vision should be translated into developmental momentum and tangible results through platforms such as Centers of Excellence, policy initiatives, and talent empowerment.

 

Practical MatchMaking : From Vision to Action


During the conference, UNIDO officially launched the "Global Alliance on Industrial AI (GAIA) Centre of Excellence Innovation Network Initiative," inviting global partners to jointly build national AI Centers of Excellence. This aims to promote cooperation in areas such as smart manufacturing and robotics, Industry 4.0 solutions, AI applications, and workforce skills development.

 

At the International Cooperation Forum on Bridging the AI Divide in Emerging Economies and Developing Countries, Zou Ciyong delivered a keynote speech calling for enhanced global cooperation to increase the supply of digital public goods and support AI capacity building in developing countries. UNIDO, jointly with China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Shanghai Municipal People's Government, and the Shanghai AI Research Institute, launched the "GAIA Centre of Excellence." This center will serve as an "International AI Living Room" and an "AI Industry Accelerator," facilitating policy dialogue, multilateral cooperation, technology transfer, business incubation, and industrial cluster development.

 

During WAIC, the "Global Alliance on Industrial AI" led by UNIDO signed a cooperation agreement with the "BRICS+ AI Alliance Network" to jointly establish a multilateral collaboration mechanism and amplify synergies.

 

Deepening Exchanges: Advancing Concrete Cooperation


During the visitation in Shanghai, the delegation led by Executive Director Zou Ciyong held meetings and consultations with Mr. Hu Wenrong, Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and a team from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). They discussed deepening practical cooperation in key areas like digital transformation and capacity building, held in-depth exchanges on the construction of the GAIA Centre of Excellence, and explored ways to contribute to global digital inclusion and sustainable industrial development.