The co-hosting of the 15th National Games of the People’s Republic of China marks a new stage in collaboration across Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. Can that momentum be extended intogreater integration across sectors and industries di? Differences in market systems and persistent barriers to factor mobility continue to constrain deeper integration. What would it take to accelerate alignment where it can, improve cross-border flows of capital, data and talent, and build more effective mechanisms for shared development? With strengths in AI, manufacturing and finance, how can the Greater Bay Area turn connectivity into a more integrated innovation ecosystem? And how can stronger people-to-people ties enhance regional identity?

AI is beginning to reshape not only how people learn, but what they need to learn. What should education equip students with in an era of smartsystems? What forms of AI literacy will matter most? As technology becomes more deeply embedded in the classroom, how might the role of teachers evolve? And what lessons can be drawn from the experience of Hong Kong and the Mainland in advancing AI-enabled education?

From foundational models to AI agents and humanoid robots, artificial intelligence is driving breakthroughs from lab to real-world application. What will it take to translate AI potential into broad-based productivity gains? Where are the greatest opportunities for commercialisation and scaled adoption? How can smaller firms participate meaningfully in this transition? And as investment accelerates, how can policymakers and industry leaders strike a better balance between innovation and governance?

Chinese companies are entering a new phase of internationalisation—one defined not only by market access, but by localisation, compliance and strategic resilience. As global expansion becomes more complex, how should businesses navigate geopolitical tensions, regulatory divergence, intellectual property risk, ESG expectations and tax exposure? What role can Hong Kong play as a platform for international growth? And how can finance, law and technology come together to support a more grounded and sustainable model of global expansion?

Wealth management is being reshaped by geopolitical risk, policy divergence, market volatility and technological change. As capital moves beyond traditional deposits into a broader range of investment channels, how should institutions rethink the balance between preservation, performance and protection? What does value creation now mean in a more complex and competitive industry? And how can firms use Hong Kong’s market depth, currency framework and capital-market connectivity to serve increasingly global client needs?

At the current stage, China finds itself in a critical window of structural transformation and a transition in growth drivers. The key question is how to break free from "path dependence" and progressively establish a new framework for growth.

How can we further improve a multi-level, full-coverage, and sustainable regional technology finance system, as technological innovation and industrial upgrading shift from "point-based breakthroughs" to "chain-based synergy"? How can we better utilize the multi-tiered capital market to foster patient capital and achieve revenue scale-up by investing "early, small, and in hard tech"? As we strive to solidify the development of the Yangtze River Delta G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor, how should financial institutions increase innovation to provide full-chain, whole-life-cycle financial services? At the same time, how can we guide capital to flow from "peaks" to "hinterlands" and facilitate the rational movement of financial resources across cities at different tiers within the Yangtze River Delta region?

The emergence of Hangzhou's "Six Little Dragons" is strong proof that regional innovation is moving from "physical proximity" to "chemical fusion." To activate the innovation community, how can we fully leverage the respective strengths and characteristics of different regions to achieve differentiated, synergistic, and complementary roles, while avoiding homogenization and fragmentation? How can we remove barriers to accelerate the free flow of innovation factors such as technology, talent, and projects, and promote joint efforts to tackle "bottleneck" problems? How can we encourage innovation entities to take the lead in establishing innovation consortia, so as to achieve "cross-regional" and "upgraded" innovation mechanisms? To foster a sound ecosystem for sci-tech innovation, how can we build a collaborative mechanism in which "enterprises raise questions, governments select topics, and the market provides answers"?

Underpinned by foundational capabilities such as computing power and chips, innovative drivers—including large AI models, industrial intelligent agents, and embodied intelligent robots—are being unleashed at an accelerating pace, bringing manufacturing enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta opportunities for leapfrogging efficiency and moving up the value chain. As the AI industry shifts from technology clustering to application empowerment, what ecological opportunities will emerge in scenario deployment? How can AI and robots penetrate the full chain of manufacturing—design, production, quality inspection, and operations & maintenance—to achieve large-scale deployment and bridge the “last mile” from technology to the shop floor? Facing the deep-water zone of intelligent manufacturing upgrades, how can all parties strengthen and deepen regional collaboration to propel advanced manufacturing clusters from isolated breakthroughs to breaking through as world-class clusters?

The 15th Five-Year Plan outlines the development of new cultural forms such as digital animation, short-form videos, and micro-dramas. Technological change is reshaping how entertainment content is produced and transformed, while continuously enriching existing entertainment products. The cultural industry is becoming a new growth pole for China’s high-quality economic development. Among these, the micro-drama industry is moving away from unbridled growth into a new phase of intensive cultivation — from script creation, filming, and production, to platform distribution and IP development, to cross-sector integration with cultural tourism, gaming, and more. Micro-dramas are rapidly evolving toward a fully symbiotic, mature ecosystem. As the traffic dividend recedes, the industry stands at a crossroads: How can we achieve sustainable development of the digital culture industry? How can new content shift from traffic-driven to quality- and value-oriented premium contents supply? How can long-term IP management activate contemporary expressions of traditional culture? How can we tell good Chinese stories in the portrait-photo era, creating new productive forces with both cultural and industrial value? At the same time, how can we continuously expand the functional boundaries and social value of micro-dramas, working across industries to build and boost a healthy micro-drama ecosystem?

This closed-door session aims to build a precise and efficient matchmaking platform between professional service providers and companies in the Yangtze River Delta region that are either planning to go global or have already started their overseas expansion. The session will invite exchanges, investment banks, law firms, accounting firms, etc. to share professional insights on cross-border expansion.