On July 30, the 2026 Asia-Pacific Digital and Intelligent Economy Sustainable Development Innovation Week kicked off in Longhua District. Nearly 200 Chinese and foreign guests including experts, scholars, and representatives from governments and enterprises from around 30 countries and regions gathered to discuss new opportunities for Asia-Pacific cooperation and digital economic development.

During the event, Shenzhen Daily had an exclusive interview with Dr. James Ong, founder and managing director of Artificial Intelligence International Institute (AIII) and an adjunct professor at Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). He is also an expert member of the UNESCO and UNU AI Global Network and an international advisor of the World AI Conference (WAIC).

Dr. James Ong during an exclusive interview with Shenzhen Daily. Photos courtesy of Shenzhen Longhua International Cooperation Center

Dr. Ong first set foot in Shenzhen in 1998 and has since seen the city undergo dramatic transformations over nearly three decades. He notes that the city sees remarkable shifts every ten years, evolving from a small rural township into a world-class innovation hub. 

During the interview, he offered in-depth, distinctive insights covering Shenzhen’s distinctive innovative momentum, AI for humanity philosophy, and cross-border digital collaboration between Shenzhen and Singapore.

The root of Shenzhen’s innovation: generations of entrepreneurs

Dr. Ong pointed out that robotics and physical AI have become global hot topics, and Shenzhen is definitely one of the places that is leading. However, when talking about the impression of Shenzhen, he assessed: “what I see is not the technology, is the people behind.”

In his view, people from all over China have gathered in Shenzhen, where first- and second-generation entrepreneurs have put down roots. It is these enterprising and and ambitious people who have driven the city's remarkable achievements in innovation. 

“So I see Shenzhen not so much of the technology innovation which is on the surface, I see as an ongoing innovation moving forward with more and more talented people coming to city,” he added.

Making sure AI is for the public good, and also as public goods

During the event's high-level dialogue, Dr. Ong stressed: “We have to think of a new impact business model where we need to make AI for humanity more profitable than AI. We need to make sure AI is for the public good, and it's also as public goods.”

Dr. Ong delivers a speech at a high-level dialogue of the 2026 Asia-Pacific Digital and Intelligent Economy Sustainable Development Innovation Week.

He further explained that we need to make sure AI is used for the benefit of the good and safety of the public. At the same time, AI should be public goods like water and air, available to everybody who needs it. It doesn't matter how rich, how strong, how good looking or how smart someone is. 

Shenzhen-Singapore joint efforts: boosting sustainable digital development across Asia-Pacific

When talking about Asia-Pacific digital economy cooperation, Dr. Ong pointed out that the biggest opportunity for cross-border cooperation lies in building mutual trust among all nations. 

“We should go beyond the traditional thinking of cross-border flows of people, goods and money, and go into the cross-border handling of data, algorithms and digital services to achieve mutual benefit for all economies.” 

He holds that with Shenzhen and Singapore working together, Shenzhen's strengths in technology innovation can be unleashed and make an impact on the rest of the world. This will be a good positive collaboration, and the rest of the world also can benefit from the city's achievements in innovation, technology and talent cultivation. 

A scene at the high-level dialogue on Digital-Intelligent Economy and Sustainable Development in Asia-Pacific Cities.

In regard to the significance of this innovation week, Dr. Ong commented that artificial intelligence is profoundly reshaping the global economy, employment and geopolitics. This year’s Asia-Pacific Digital and Intelligent Economy Sustainable Development Innovation Week, co-hosted by Longhua District, the United Nations Development Program and the World Innovative Cities Cooperation Organization, has built an excellent international exchange platform. It unites all sectors across the globe to jointly advocate AI for humanity and advance the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This also demonstrates Shenzhen’s firm commitment to practicing the philosophy of AI for humanity and taking it as the guide for the city’s future digital and intelligent development.