NANNING, China, June 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report from chinadaily.com.cn:

The 2026 China-ASEAN "AI + Cross-Border E-Commerce" Innovative Application Competition was launched on May 29, with registration available via its official website. Online preliminary rounds will wrap up by June 30, while the offline final is set to take place in Nanning, the capital city of Guangxi, in late July.

Jointly organized by the Department of Commerce and the Big Data Development Bureau of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, alongside other local authorities, the competition welcomes university students, enterprises, startups, and industry organizations from both China and ASEAN member states.

The initiative aims to foster a collaborative development ecosystem built on the model of being "researched in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou; assembled in Guangxi; and applied across ASEAN".

Rather than merely showcasing AI tools, this year's competition emphasizes real-world applications across the entire cross-border e-commerce value chain. The event targets participants from 11 ASEAN countries, all 31 provincial-level regions on the Chinese mainland, as well as Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan.

A core focus of the competition is commercialization. Outstanding projects will be fast-tracked to connect with industrial parks, e-commerce enterprises, financial institutions, investment agencies, and regional ASEAN resources. To support this, Guangxi's big data development authority will provide critical resources, including open-use scenarios, data empowerment, and R&D transformation support.

Furthermore, the Guangxi cities of Nanning, Liuzhou, and Beihai will introduce dedicated policies to help implement winning projects. Notably, Nanning will grant top projects priority entry into platforms like the China-ASEAN Countries AI Application Cooperation Center. Winning teams can also receive up to 1 million yuan ($147,583) for dataset construction and up to 2 million yuan in model-training subsidies.