APEC Highlights Guangdong’s Emerging Global Competitiveness in Innovation and Technology

On February 2, Guangzhou, a city that recently gained attention due to the viral song “Jiahe Wanggang,” hosted the first senior officials’ meeting of APEC’s “China Year.” During this event, four foreign officials boarded an autonomous bus operated by WeRide, while Gianpiero Antonazzo from the World Bank Group was impressed by Ying Shi’s 360-degree panoramic camera. Krisia Misa, a representative from the Philippines, even tried out a stringless guitar developed by Unknown Planet.

More than 1,000 representatives from APEC member economies, the secretariat, and business advisory councils participated in over 70 events focusing on the three priority areas of “openness, innovation, and cooperation,” all set against the backdrop of Guangzhou, a millennium-old commercial hub.

This was Gianpiero’s first visit to China and Guangdong. Initially admitting his limited knowledge about the region, by the end of his half-day tour, he had already become well-acquainted with several local products. “The Xiaopeng cars and panoramic cameras I saw made a deep impression on me. I believe this is the future, and you all are doing an outstanding job,” he remarked.

Guangdong has been a hotbed for local products for over 40 years, ranging from traditional Lingnan clothing and Guangdong appliances to emerging sectors like electric vehicles and drones. The province also attracts top-quality resources from around the globe, including cherries from Chile and precision instruments from Germany. This makes Guangdong a key bridge connecting domestic and international markets while playing a crucial role in developing a new growth pattern that promotes domestic and international economic cycles.

At the Haixinsha Smart Experience Center, APEC representatives explored the latest innovations from Guangdong. Krisia, on her first visit to Guangzhou, was quick to note the area’s creativity and innovation. “There are so many different types of products here. I used to see them only in movies or on stage, but now I can see them in real life,” she said.

The stringless guitar, called the LiberLive C2, was developed by Unknown Planet Technology (Dongguan) Co., Ltd., a company incubated by the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology. “This guitar features visual chord prompt lights and smart accompaniment, allowing users without any musical background to start playing immediately,” explained Li Xueying, head of public affairs at the Shenzhen institute.

The unique design and technological innovation have led to remarkable market performance. After launching the LiberLive C1 stringless guitar in 2023, Unknown Planet achieved sales of 110 million yuan that year, which skyrocketed to 570 million yuan in 2024. From June 2023 to June 2024, the LiberLive C1 was the best-selling stringless guitar in the global market.

Li Zexiang, founder and dean of the Shenzhen Institute, has helped incubate over 265 hard-tech companies in nearly 30 years, including DJI, Cloud Whale, and Xidi Zhijia. Among these, there are two publicly listed firms and 13 unicorns, with a total valuation exceeding $50 billion.

APEC guests shared a common impression of the new Guangdong products: innovation, technology, and openness. From traditional rice and clothing to cutting-edge electric vehicles and drones, Guangdong products are showcasing a new image to consumers worldwide amid a new wave of technological revolution.

“The panoramic camera I just saw is indeed a revolutionary product. The drones and electric vehicles I encountered in the city also left a strong impression on me,” Gianpiero noted.

Products like WeRide’s autonomous minibus, Chuangxiang 3D’s AI 3D printer, and Cloud Whale’s smart robot vacuums have already made significant contributions to the global market during this APEC gathering.

According to data, by 2025, Guangdong’s total exports are expected to reach 6.03 trillion yuan, marking a year-on-year growth of 2.5%. High-tech products, including electronics, high-end equipment, medical devices, and electric vehicles, are anticipated to comprise 1.14 trillion yuan of exports, a 15% increase. Particularly, Guangdong leads the nation in exports of lithium batteries, measurement instruments, medical equipment, machine tools, 3D printers, and auto parts, accounting for approximately 30% of national exports in these categories.

“The global economic impacts caused by geopolitical changes are undeniable. However, Guangdong has demonstrated resilience through continuous internal industrial transformation, which helps address shifts in the global market. To achieve higher levels of development, the primary focus must remain on technological innovation and the industrial upgrades that stem from it,” remarked Zheng Yongnian, dean of the School of Public Policy at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen.

As new Guangdong products continue to emerge, the province’s economic and trade networks with various global economies are further strengthening.

By 2025, Guangdong’s total import and export volume with other APEC economies is projected to reach 6.16 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.3%. This includes exports of 3.82 trillion yuan (up 1.1%) and imports of 2.34 trillion yuan (up 8.7%).

When examining the structure of exported products, it is expected that Guangdong will export 2.62 trillion yuan in electromechanical products to APEC economies, marking a 6% increase and raising its share of total exports by 3.2 percentage points to 68.7%. New export drivers, such as integrated circuits, drones, and other emerging products, are projected to grow by 38.7%, 47%, and 25.8%, respectively.

Founded in 2007, XAG Technology is a globally leading agricultural robotics company focused on empowering agriculture with robotics, AI, and renewable energy technologies. XAG’s core products for the Asia-Pacific region include agricultural drones, unmanned vehicles, and IoT products for smart farms.

The agricultural drones showcased at the Haixinsha Smart Experience Center exemplify XAG’s commitment to enhancing efficiency and reducing costs, addressing labor shortages while providing new skills and income sources for small farmers and women workers. These technologies effectively alleviate the aging crisis in agriculture, with some regions creating new business models, such as drone service teams, to attract young entrepreneurs back to their hometowns.

For instance, in Cambodia’s Battambang province, where rice is the primary crop, challenges like flooding, labor shortages, and rising labor costs have intensified for local farmers. A woman named Kesar purchased an XAG drone to provide spraying services for local farms, adapting quickly to demand and eventually forming a professional pilot team and starting her own agricultural service company, covering over 10,000 acres.

The trend towards high-tech imports is also apparent. By 2025, Guangdong is expected to import 1.72 trillion yuan in electromechanical products from APEC economies, reflecting a 13.7% increase and constituting 73.2% of Guangdong’s total imports from these economies. This includes integrated circuits valued at 987.35 billion yuan (up 19.6%) and computers and their components at 261.88 billion yuan (up 17.9%).

In this trillion-level “flow feast” centered on goods, the Canton Fair serves as a crucial hub. The 138th China Import and Export Fair attracted over 310,000 overseas buyers from 223 countries and regions, reflecting a 7.5% increase from the previous session, with an expected on-site intended export transaction amounting to $25.65 billion.

Curious about “China’s No. 1 exhibition,” Gianpiero took the time to visit the Canton Fair. “I am very interested in commercial trade opportunities, platforms, and related technologies. After today’s visit, I believe the Canton Fair offers a fantastic opportunity to enhance trade among APEC economies and even globally,” he commented.

The globalization of “Guangdong products” essentially represents the deep integration of the province’s manufacturing industry into the global value chain. Transitioning from merely “selling globally” and “buying globally,” Guangdong is constructing a strategic circular system that connects domestic and international markets through “Guangdong products,” achieving a significant leap in commercial power by becoming both a fertile ground for attracting global resources and a seedbed for spreading new value worldwide.