On March 31, the "Guidelines for Implementing the ASEAN-Oriented AI 'Cross-Border Challenge' Project" were officially released by the Department of Science and Technology of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. This initiative, a national first, is designed to align with national priorities, leverage Guangxi's strengths, and meet ASEAN's needs. It introduces a new project mechanism described as "ASEAN sets the problems, Guangxi posts the challenges, and partners provide solutions." The policy aims to deeply integrate Guangxi's artificial intelligence technologies with application scenarios in ASEAN countries. The broader goal is to pioneer a novel international cooperation model of "ASEAN posing problems – Guangxi integrating resources – nationwide collaboration," creating advanced AI technology典型案例 that are suitable for ASEAN contexts and possess commercial value. This effort is intended to accelerate the global expansion of local enterprises and better serve the building of a China-ASEAN community with a shared future.
The Guidelines consist of 7 chapters and 14 articles, consistently focusing on the core objectives of technology transfer and practical application. They precisely target the implementation of AI technologies in key ASEAN sectors such as government affairs, agriculture, industry, transportation, healthcare, smart cities, logistics, and new energy. This comprehensive coverage addresses areas of significant focus and urgent development needs across ASEAN nations, ensuring clearer cooperation directions and a more solid foundation for implementation.
Grounded in the realities of cross-border collaboration, the policy establishes clear and rigorous specifications for participating entities to ensure practicality while fully stimulating innovation. ASEAN demand-side participants must be legally registered local universities, research institutions, enterprises, or relevant government departments for over one year. They must possess genuine application scenarios, testing environments, local data, supporting resources, and adequate conditions for industrial commercialization, ensuring from the outset that technical cooperation is substantive and effectively implemented.
The lead solvers, or "challenge-takers," are restricted to enterprises, universities, and research institutes registered in Guangxi for more than one year with independent legal status. They must demonstrate strong R&D capabilities, well-equipped research facilities, and a solid foundation for international cooperation. These entities can undertake challenges independently or collaborate with up to five domestic or international partners. Crucially, an enterprise must serve as the lead or a participant, effectively bridging the gap between technology development and market application and overcoming key obstacles in international sci-tech cooperation. This "Guangxi integration, ASEAN application" model leverages Guangxi's role as a bridge in regional cooperation while pooling high-quality scientific and technological resources from across the country for complementary advantages and synergistic effort.
Regarding cooperation models, the Guidelines move away from single, rigid formats. Adhering to principles of equality, mutual benefit, and win-win cooperation, they introduce a flexible, diversified mechanism. Supply and demand parties can negotiate and choose from single or combined models such as technology transfer, collaborative R&D, personnel training, technology licensing, or technology investment. This approach balances the principles and flexibility required for cross-border collaboration, fitting the practical needs of "adapting to local conditions and achieving mutual benefits" in international partnerships.
A key requirement is that ASEAN demand-side participants must provide substantive resource contributions, covering areas such as funding, venues, data, human resources, market channels, and research environments. This principle of bidirectional resource investment and shared responsibility ensures the sustainability of cooperation, enabling genuine complementarity of advantages and benefit-sharing in cross-border sci-tech projects.
As a pioneering national mechanism for cross-border challenges, the project implementation process is carefully designed considering the specifics of China-foreign collaboration. It establishes a scientific, standardized, and efficient closed-loop system comprising four core stages: defining and posting challenges, accepting and evaluating proposals, leading the攻关, and application demonstration. These are broken down into nine key steps: needs assessment, challenge definition, posting, proposal acceptance, evaluation, commitment agreement,攻关, effectiveness review, and application. The entire process is well-structured with clear rights and responsibilities.
To address challenges like differences in technological understanding and trust-building in cross-border cooperation, the process specifically includes a Sino-foreign negotiation phase. This serves as a bridge for in-depth communication and alignment between supply and demand parties, accurately matching cooperation needs and effectively preventing obstacles caused by information asymmetry or differing perceptions, thereby making cross-border sci-tech对接 smoother and partnerships more aligned.
To ensure efficient implementation and tangible results, the Department of Science and Technology will leverage the China-ASEAN Technology Transfer Center platform to establish a comprehensive support system covering funding, technology, and talent. For financial support, a pre-funding approach is adopted, with regional government science and technology funds contributing up to a maximum of 3 million RMB per project, providing solid financial backing for technical攻关. In terms of科技 services, utilizing the advantages of the national platform, full-chain services will be provided, including technology transfer, sci-tech consultation, sci-tech finance, and access to international channel resources, facilitating all aspects of cross-border technology conversion. For talent services, comprehensive support such as visa facilitation, residence permits, and children's education will be provided to solvers introducing high-level technical talent from ASEAN. Systematic professional technical training will also be conducted for ASEAN partners, alongside establishing international exchange platforms, inviting participation in brand events like the China-ASEAN Expo Advanced Technology Exhibition, and recommending quality projects for innovation and entrepreneurship competitions to promote the efficient对接 of regional innovation resources.
The Guidelines will be implemented on a trial basis for five years. Eligible innovation entities can inquire for details through the following channels: (一) Telephone: Department of Science and Technology, External Exchange and Cooperation Office: 0771—2633079, 0771—2618480 (二) Online: Please visit the "Online Consultation" section of the Guangxi Department of Science and Technology website.
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