The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area holds the greatest potential to become the world’s first “AI bay area”, compared with the other major bay areas around the world, said Li Cheng, founding director of the Centre on Contemporary China and the World at the University of Hong Kong.

Li was addressing a packed global audience on Monday, who had convened in Macao for the two-day International Forum on Mutual Learning among Civilizations 2026.

To become the first AI bay area, Li proposed accelerating the coordinated development of artificial intelligence research, innovation, application, popularization, and regulation, as well as pooling more intelligent scenarios within the Greater Bay Area.

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The region should also form a batch of AI venues and AI markets, and could even build the first AI city, he added.

By leveraging major cooperation platforms — such as Hengqin, Qianhai, Nansha, and the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone — Hong Kong and Macao should act as both superconnectors and "super value-adders", exploring cross-border AI and using AI to promote comprehensive cooperation across the Greater Bay Area, he said.

“I believe the Greater Bay Area, where we are based, possesses rich traditional wisdom and a solid practical foundation. The key lies in upholding the two core spirits of ‘boldly standing at the forefront of the tide’ and ‘prioritizing people-centered development,’” he added.

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Li said that by hosting the high-level forum for the second time, the Macao SAR has delivered another major international “public good” from China to advance global dialogue among civilizations.

The two-day event drew about 300 world-renowned scholars and experts from around the globe. The forum’s keynote speeches centered on harmony without uniformity, openness and inclusiveness, and on multicultural coexistence, as demonstrated by the Hong Kong and Macao SARs under the “one country, two systems” principle.

Contact the writer at hazelwong@chinadailyhk.com