As the clock moves into the fervent month of June, the world's spotlight once again turns to Dalian. From June 23rd to 25th, the World Economic Forum's Seventeenth Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as the Summer Davos Forum, was held in Dalian, where cutting-edge global ideas will spark innovation.
From its inaugural session in 2007 to this ninth partnership, two decades of mutual commitment have seen the Summer Davos Forum and Dalian achieve a deep synergy, mutual success, and a perfect complement to each other. This year's forum set a new record for registered attendance, covering over 90 countries and regions, with total registered participants exceeding 1,700, highlighting the event's growing global appeal and influence.
Partnering with Davos and walking alongside new champions, Dalian seizes the opportunity of hosting this major event. From embracing open-minded thinking to implementing industrial transformation, from stimulating innovative vitality to upgrading the business environment, the city continuously integrates a global perspective into its development vision.
Summer Davos has repeatedly provided a stage for Dalian to present its renewed industrial landscape, innovative achievements, and cultural characteristics to the world.
Global Perspective and Innovative Momentum
Currently, at Dalian Bingshan Group's ShuangD Port facility, clean energy sources like photovoltaic power generation and heat pumps are integrated, with efficient recovery of residual cold, pressure, and heat from the production process. Through carbon reduction and green electricity initiatives, the entire park operates as a zero-carbon factory.
"Every time I am at the Davos venue, I ponder: what connections and intersections do these cutting-edge ideas have with 'Bingshan'? It is in the collision of these intellectual sparks that we identified and committed to the 'dual-carbon' path. This transformation has brought tremendous development opportunities for Bingshan," said Ji Zhijian, Chairman of Bingshan Group.
As one of the earliest member enterprises of the World Economic Forum's New Champions community, Bingshan Group translates the global frontier concepts gained from the Davos forum into local innovative practices. Through its refrigeration and heating technology pathways, combined with digitalization and artificial intelligence, it continuously promotes green energy solutions across nine major industrial and civil scenarios. This traditional manufacturing enterprise, with nearly a century of history, maintains steady growth, aiding Dalian in accelerating the development of a modern industrial system with a robust real economy.
During the 2024 Dalian Summer Davos Forum, over 50 domestic and international guests visited the Hengli Heavy Industry Industrial Park on Changxing Island. The global industrial chain perspective brought by the Davos forum bolstered Hengli Group's confidence in systematic planning, aiming to strengthen and complete the industrial chains for petrochemical new materials and high-end marine engineering equipment.
In March of this year, Hengli invested approximately 16.5 billion yuan to construct a ship power system industrial park and a polyester new materials industrial park. In April, the domestically produced first 8G95 liquefied natural gas (LNG) dual-fuel engine manufactured by Hengli Engine was successfully delivered. Also in April, the first vessel of Dalian Shipping Company officially commenced operations.
Hengli Group Chairman Chen Jianhua stated that, focusing on the development of the shipbuilding and engine manufacturing industrial chains, Hengli continues to expand. Dalian Shipping Co., Ltd. will invest in the construction of the Northeast Asia International Shipping Center through the development and operation of the entire industrial chain.
Over two decades, the 'wind' from Davos has brought a vision aligned with the global stage and a continuous flow of innovative elements, allowing Dalian to resonate with the hotspots and trends of the world economy. The Summer Davos Forum has long transcended being merely a conference, becoming a 'catalyst' and 'accelerator' for Dalian's industrial innovation and development.
Each reunion serves as a testament to new development. In the first quarter of this year, Dalian's value-added of industrial enterprises above designated size grew by 9.9%, with profits of these enterprises increasing by 36.6%. The industrial structure is shifting towards newer and superior forms, with advantageous industries like equipment manufacturing and petrochemicals achieving simultaneous growth in scale and quality. Strategic emerging industries such as new energy, new materials, biomedicine, electronic information, and artificial intelligence are accelerating their rise.
In 2025, the core digital economy industry value-added in Dalian exceeded 75 billion yuan. The forward-looking concepts advocated by the Summer Davos Forum propel Dalian at full speed into an innovative blue ocean. The intensity of R&D investment in society has increased to 3.21%. Yinggeshi Science City has transformed from blueprint to reality, and Dalian's efforts to build a nationally influential regional science and technology innovation center are accelerating and improving in quality. In 2025, the transaction value of technology contracts in Dalian reached 66.03 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10%.
Connecting the World and Reaping Openness Dividends
A data journalism team from the News and Communication Department of Dalian University of Technology once decoded Dalian's 'Davos Footprint' from a diversified perspective. Through in-depth analysis of data from the first eight partnerships between Dalian and the Summer Davos Forum, examining theme changes, first-time initiatives, and annual highlights, the conclusion was that the Dalian Summer Davos Forum is a veritable 'order field' and 'investment bridge'.
Each reunion represents a deeper connection between Dalian and the world. Relying on the forum's high-level open platform, each session has facilitated the signing of an average of 13 major projects. From 2015 to 2024, Dalian cumulatively attracted 50 major foreign-funded projects and 48 domestic-funded projects with industry-leading influence, successfully drawing a group of Fortune Global 500 and leading industry enterprises like SK, Volkswagen, and Pfizer to deepen their roots in Dalian and continuously increase investment and expand production.
From the perspective of investment sectors, a clear trend has emerged: 'from diversified layout to deep cultivation in high-precision and尖端 fields, from broad coverage to concentration on特色 industries'. The focus in 2015 was on areas like automotive equipment manufacturing and healthcare. By 2017, it expanded into diverse tracks such as commercial real estate and new energy. Starting in 2019, there was a gradual move into high-tech fields like high-end manufacturing and biotechnology. In 2024, the focus further shifted towards strategic emerging industries and特色 sectors like the marine economy.
From an industrial structure perspective, strategic emerging industries and new business forms释放新质生产力 attracted through the forum account for over 33.3%. These projects have not only taken root and operate stably in Dalian but have also achieved capacity expansion and iterative upgrades through technology spillover and industrial chain带动.
The massive 'flow' brought by the forum助推 Dalian to全力 build a high-level open gateway hub with smooth internal and external connectivity. Leveraging the forum platform, the Dalian Commodity Exchange has accelerated its internationalization, with multiple futures品种 now accessible to overseas traders, steadily enhancing the global pricing influence and resource allocation power of大宗商品. Since its establishment in 2017, the Dalian Area of the China (Liaoning) Pilot Free Trade Zone has introduced over 800 institutional innovation成果, continuously activating the regional export-oriented economic动能.
Furthermore, as the leading force for opening up in Northeast China, by linking global resources from politics, business, academia, and media, the 'Dalian Window' has significantly提升 the region's recognition within the global industrial chain,推动 high-quality resources to辐射 into the hinterland of Northeast China, gathering more international attention and cooperation opportunities for regional development.
During the 2024 forum, the connection between 'Northeast Revitalization' and 'Summer Davos' became a hot topic in mainstream media reports. Cities like Shenyang, Changchun, and哈尔滨 received over 800 media exposures. Multiple areas within the province reaped significant investment fruits, with cities including Dandong, Fuxin, Chaoyang, and辽阳 signing projects with a total investment exceeding 6.2 billion yuan.
Hosted in one location, benefiting multiple regions, the Dalian Summer Davos Forum has搭建 a direct dialogue platform for domestic and foreign enterprises to understand Liaoning and invest in Northeast China, laying a solid foundation for后续深度合作.
International Attention and Urban Ascendancy
In the盛夏 of Dalian, greenery spreads and all things flourish. Gazing into the distance, mountains embrace the sea, the port and city are interdependent, presenting a magnificent and vibrant scene. What Davos brings to Dalian is not only the world's attention but also endows it with long-term development confidence and a comprehensive升华 of urban character, allowing the world to clearly see an open,包容, and魅力-filled Dalian committed to integrated land-sea development.
Each grand event is an opportunity for Dalian to展示 its rich内涵 to the world. The 'Dalian Night' immersive cultural banquet introduced intangible cultural heritage projects like Fuzhou shadow puppetry and shell carving to the international stage. Industrial and cultural tourism routes串珠成链, becoming a vivid and tangible 'guidebook' that tells the鲜活 stories of Liaoning's revitalization and Dalian's openness, allowing global guests to comprehensively and立体地 understand the city's innovative活力, development潜力, and人文温度.
Turning 'green' into a亮眼名片 for the world, Dalian achieved internationally certified 'zero-carbon conference hosting' during the 2024 forum. Currently, a 64% share of installed clean energy capacity and 99.1% excellent water quality in near-shore海域构筑 the city's 'green底气', becoming a visible and tangible source of happiness for residents and tourists.
Dalian持续 strives to create a first-class, market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized business environment, having been recognized four times as a 'Benchmark City for Internationalized Business Environment Construction'. The success rate for international commercial mediation exceeds 80%. The '12345+AI' smart government service platform is fully operational, promoting the iterative upgrade from 'one-network通办' to 'instant approval and processing', making办事 for enterprises and the public as convenient and快捷 as online shopping.
A good ecological environment attracts 'international流量', with海外游客 coming in droves. In 2025, Dalian received 1.5757 million入境游客, a增长 of 70.22%, hitting a record high and solidifying its position高居榜单 as a 'livable, workable, and visitable international coastal tourism destination'.
Davos is not only a development opportunity for the city but also allows ordinary citizens the chance to step into an international venue, showcasing the host's热情 and自信 through关注,参与, and serving the forum.
Each reunion is for a better departure. Meeting in a season lush with greenery, open Liaoning and beautiful Dalian have entered 'Davos Time'. As the curtain rises on this international盛会, Dalian and the Summer Davos Forum join hands once again,共同奔向 the future's vast星辰大海.
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