On the afternoon of June 23, during the 4th China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE), the International Cooperation Forum on Smart Cities & Intelligent Construction Industrial Supply Chains was successfully held in Beijing. Nie Wenhui, Vice Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT); Li Zhe, First-Level Inspector of the Planning, Finance and Foreign Affairs Department of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development; and María Cruz Díaz Álvarez, President of the Institute of Engineering of Spain, attended the forum and delivered remarks. Li Liping, President of the CCPIT-Construction Industry Sub-council, delivered the welcome address.

Nie Wenhui noted that digital and intelligent technologies, represented by artificial intelligence, are profoundly reshaping the global development landscape, and that the digital and intelligent transformation of the entire construction industry chain has become an inevitable trend. He expressed the hope that the CCPIT-Construction Industry Sub-council would further leverage its professional strengths and play a greater role in serving the international development of enterprises and promoting integrated innovation across industrial and supply chains. CCPIT will continue to make full use of the China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) platform to help construction enterprises strengthen cooperation through industrial chains and promote coordinated cluster-based development.

Li Zhe stated that all parties are expected to rely on the forum to deepen cooperation between China and foreign countries in technology, standards, projects and other fields, so as to empower the innovation and upgrading of industrial and supply chains in the housing and urban development sector, and provide targeted support for enterprises in “going global” and achieving high-quality development.

María said that she looks forward to deepening exchanges and cooperation with China’s construction industry, jointly advancing coordinated development in infrastructure, intelligent construction and green engineering, and exploring new opportunities for cross-border industrial chain cooperation.

Li Liping noted that the construction industry is currently at a critical stage of deep adjustment, transformation and upgrading, with intelligent construction and smart urban transformation becoming mainstream in the sector. The forum, he said, aims to build an international platform for dialogue and exchange, enabling Chinese and foreign industry leaders to share insights and jointly explore future development.

At the forum, the CCPIT-Construction Industry Sub-council and the Institute of Engineering of Spain signed a strategic cooperation agreement. Zhuang Weimin, Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor at Tsinghua University, delivered a keynote speech titled “Cities and Architecture in the Era of AI,” in which he analyzed new opportunities brought by AI to the industry. Wang Tiehong, former Chief Engineer of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, shared his insights on the development of supply chains in the engineering construction sector. Representatives from the Spanish Association of Civil Engineers for Roads, Canals and Ports, the Center of Science Technology and Industrialization Development of Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Beijing General Municipal Engineering Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd., Glodon Company Limited, and Hong Kong isBIM Limited also delivered speeches. The forum also featured a plaque-awarding ceremony for vice-chair units of the CCPIT-Construction Industry Sub-council and an appointment ceremony for senior think tank experts.

The forum was hosted by the CCPIT-Construction Industry Sub-council, with support from the UN-Habitat Beijing Information Office, the Institute of Engineering of Spain and the The Construction Industry Council (CIC) of Hong Kong. More than 170 participants attended the event, including heads of Chinese and foreign construction industry associations, academicians, experts, and executives from industry-leading enterprises.