Specialists see innovation, digital tech as key to South-South cooperation

Fu Xiaolan, fellow of the British Academy of Social Sciences, and professor and director of the Technology and Management Center for Development at the University of Oxford, said that innovation is an important driver of long-term economic growth and sustainable development, and emphasized the significance of international cooperation in science, technology and innovation.

"The rise of the innovation capabilities in the Global South, especially the emerging economies, has provided a very important addition and alternative for the other developing countries in terms of technology transfer and innovation collaboration," Fu said.

Fu further said that findings from a case study of Chinese tech heavyweight Tencent suggested the changes in the value of a firm from "managing people" to "serving people" play a very important role in motivating and empowering people for better innovation.

It is clear that digital technologies will transform lives and livelihoods by fundamentally and irrevocably changing how people, businesses and governments interact, said Sonia Bashir Kabir, vice co-chair of the Council of United Nations Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries.

She said the shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the weaknesses of existing systems, and countries with stronger digital infrastructure were able to mount faster, more effective responses.

With the blossoming of 5G, big data, artificial intelligence and other innovative digital technologies, the digital economy is gradually becoming the integral driving force for economic growth. According to a white paper released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the scale of China's digital economy reached 45.5 trillion yuan ($6.39 trillion) in 2021, accounting for 39.8 percent of the country's GDP.

The countries of the South have contributed more than half of the world's growth in recent years. Intra-South trade is higher than ever, accounting for more than a quarter of all world trade, according to the United Nations.

Zhou Taidong, associate research fellow of the Development Research Center of the State Council, said digital technological innovation is injecting unprecedented momentum into the global economy and is propelling the economy and society toward a more intelligent and smarter era.

Zhou noted that strengthening cooperation in digital technology and intelligent science and technology among developing countries is becoming increasingly important and should be a key area of South-South cooperation in the future.

Zhou's views were echoed by Nobuya Haraguchi, chief of the Industrial Policy Research Unit at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, who said advanced digital technologies are driving industrial growth across countries, and digitalization is also supporting industrial firms' resilience during the pandemic.

"The innovation of digital technologies and digital economy provide a vast space for international cooperation, especially among developing countries," said Cheng Hua, executive director of the Center for Digital Economy Research at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, adding promoting international cooperation through platform innovation requires good regulatory coordination among countries and clear regulations that are inclusive and prudent.