All Eyes on the Future As Daxing Set to Become Innovation Centre

Emerging industrial hub in Chinese capital invites bids from around globe for planning

The Beijing Daxing International Airport Economic Zone (BDIAEZ) launched an innovation competition to explore cities of the future as it aspires to become a world-class “aerotropolis” — an urban area centered around an airport — over the next few decades.

The “Future City” Explorer Global Innovation Competition began on May 27 and will last until late August.

Focusing on four themes of green and low-carbon development, cultural inclusivity, new consumption and smart tech, the event is designed to collect proposals for urban development, spur innovation in policy, technology and business models, and assist resource allocation and matching, said the BDIAEZ administrative committee, the competition’s organizer.

The smart tech sector, for example, looks for cutting-edge technologies, models and proposals that improve the zone’s management and services and help build a smart city.

Meanwhile, the sector of green and low-carbon development encourages participants to offer ideas and technologies that not only help peak carbon dioxide emissions and achieve carbon neutrality, but push forward economic growth.

Young scholars, students and research institutes as well as tech enterprises and startups from home and abroad are welcome to pitch their ideas and projects.

Centered around Beijing Daxing International Airport, the BDIAEZ in Beijing’s Daxing district will serve as an experimental field and provide support for top contestants, advancing their projects’ industrialization and launches, the organizer said.

In addition to prizes, they will be recommended to investors and receive guidance from industry leaders and renowned academics, the organizer added.

The airport is projected to handle 72 million passenger trips in 2025, according to official data.

Since the airport opened in 2019, a total of 39 airlines have been stationed there, with 265 air routes connecting to 178 destinations worldwide.

Another event is a global competition collecting proposals for the International C&E and Consumption Hub, which kicked off in April and has received applications from 16 consortiums.

Each team consists of two to six enterprises from home and abroad, including domestic leading design firms and creative agencies. As a result, eight consortiums were shortlisted for the competition after an extensive expert review.

To ensure the event goes smoothly, the BDIAEZ organized workshops in June and July respectively, inviting a large number of experts and professionals to offer suggestions on the proposals.

During the second workshop, the candidates elaborated on their revised designs for the International C&E and Consumption Hub and exchanged views with experts.

The improved proposals can better serve the development goals of the international C&E and Consumption Hub, while showcasing the advanced development philosophy of the BDIAEZ, organisers said.

The contestants are required to submit their final designs in the first half of August, and the winner will get a prize of 5 million yuan ($740,000), according to the organisers.

The competitions are parts of events held by the BDIAEZ recently as it is calling for plans and designs for the development of the International C&E and Consumption Hub. The project is aimed at boosting C&E business, spurring consumption as well as promoting international exchanges.

The BDIAEZ has entered a new development phase, with a batch of enormous projects launched. It is ramping up efforts to build itself into a center where global resources are integrated, a platform to advance the coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province, as well as a new driver for the country’s high-quality development, said its administrative committee.