Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
On October 31 and November 1, 2025, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) launched the Greater Bay Area-Association of Southeast Asian Nations Initiative (GAI), a new multi-year flagship program hosted by the SDSN and its partners in Asia.
The program began with a two-day conference in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, bringing together hundreds of business leaders, scholars, and government officials of the Greater Bay Area in China (GBA). The region comprises 11 cities in southern China: the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau, as well as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, and Zhaoqing. This cluster recently rose to the top of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) 2025 Global Innovation Index (GII) as the #1 innovation cluster in the world, outranking Tokyo–Yokohama and San Jose–San Francisco (Silicon Valley). Many speakers at the conference noted that this development made the launch especially relevant and well-timed.
On October 31 and November 1, 2025, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) launched the Greater Bay Area-Association of Southeast Asian Nations Initiative (GAI), a new multi-year flagship program hosted by the SDSN and its partners in Asia.
The program began with a two-day conference in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, bringing together hundreds of business leaders, scholars, and government officials of the Greater Bay Area in China (GBA). The region comprises 11 cities in southern China: the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau, as well as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, and Zhaoqing. This cluster recently rose to the top of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) 2025 Global Innovation Index (GII) as the #1 innovation cluster in the world, outranking Tokyo–Yokohama and San Jose–San Francisco (Silicon Valley). Many speakers at the conference noted that this development made the launch especially relevant and well-timed.
