Themed with "Building Digitally Friendly Cities", the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference opened in Beijing on Wednesday.
The four-day event features 46 specialized forums, attracting over 300 international guests from more than 50 countries and key international organizations -- including the World Trade Organization, BRICS, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. It will highlight such emerging fields as AI integration and application, digital security, data elements, and digital healthcare.
The conference is both a global and a local event. As a global platform, it will strengthen international cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as a co-host for the first time. Beyond thought exchanges among experts, scholars, and innovators in the digital economy, the gathering will showcase practical technology solutions. Highlights include the release of the Global Digital-Friendly Initiative, premieres of new research and development achievements, displays of China’s top-tier digital applications, and the unveiling of the "Top 10 Digital Benchmark Applications of Beijing," demonstrating how digital technologies empower urban development and improve quality of life.
"As the UNDP's recent 2025 human development report made clear, looking at the impact of artificial intelligence, the key question no longer is what technology can, but what we choose to do with it. In a word, rich in digital innovation, it is our values, our policies, and imagination that will determine whether technology supports human progress or jeopardizes it," said Beate Trankmann, UNDP Resident Representative for China.
"In the digital age, none of our industrial goals: competitive market, inclusive innovation, can be sustained in the world marred by political fragmentation, conflict and rising authoritarianism," said Jean Tirole, a Nobel laureate in economics and Honorary President of Toulouse School of Economics.
"I would like to propose the following joint initiative between Tashkent and Beijing: pilot joint projects in digital health, online and offline education and public safety platforms targeting underserved communities and marginalized groups. Such an initiative will not only improve the quality of life in both cities, but also serve as a valuable model for other cities across the region and beyond," said Rakhimova Durdona Shukurrullayevna, Deputy Mayor of Tashkent City in Uzbekistan.
For the first time, the conference is also hosting overseas parallel sessions in Europe, partnering with Spain's Mobile World Congress and Germany's "Future World" Tech and Culture Festival to showcase China's digital transformation solutions and bring Beijing's innovation strength to the global stage.
During the Digital Economy Experience Week, a 6,000-square-meter Digital Economy Experience Center has opened in a historic district near the Forbidden City. Powered by AIGC and metaverse technologies, the center offers interactive digital entertainment featuring smart wearables, connected-home devices, and digital cultural products that demonstrate how technology can enhance everyday life.
Global Digital Economy Conference 2025 opens in Beijing
