“Entrepreneurship and Innovation Project” and Design Innovation for Empowering Lingnan Culture

On November 23, the 2025 Guangdong Annual Conference on Social Sciences—the academic symposium themed “Integrated Coexistence and Renewed Cultural Continuity: The ‘Entrepreneurship and Innovation Project’ and Design Innovation of Lingnan Culture”—was held at the University Town Campus of the South China University of Technology. The conference was jointly organized by the Guangdong Federation of Social Sciences and the South China University of Technology, and hosted by the School of Design of the South China University of Technology and the Digital Intelligence Enhanced Design Innovation Lab. The event aimed to solidly advance the development of a culturally strong province and to contribute academic strength to Guangdong’s efforts to take a leading role in promoting Chinese-style modernization and building a culturally strong nation.

Opening Ceremony of the Annual Conference

Li Yihang, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Full-Time Vice Chairman of the Guangdong Federation of Social Sciences, and members of the Standing Committee of the CPC Committee of the South China University of Technology, attended the opening ceremony. Li Yihang noted that the conference focuses on the “Entrepreneurship and Innovation” development of Lingnan culture and the construction of a culturally strong province, representing a key initiative in thoroughly studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Culture and supporting high-quality development. As a treasured component of China’s outstanding traditional culture, Lingnan culture holds significant value in its creative transformation and innovative development. Its “Entrepreneurship and Innovation” practices vividly embody new-quality productive forces in the cultural domain and call for innovative allocation of cultural resources characterized by high technology, high efficiency, and high quality. He also emphasized that the South China University of Technology’s strong academic foundation in design studies provides an ideal platform for in-depth scholarly discussion at this annual conference.

The conference featured keynote speeches as well as two parallel forums titled “Design Education Oriented toward AI” and “Design Research Oriented toward AI.” During the keynote session, seven scholars from universities across different regions engaged in multi-dimensional discussions on the integration of intelligent technologies and design:

• Professor He Renke from the Hunan University introduced recent research progress on human-factor big data and cultural big data in driving intelligent design, as well as their applications in academia and industry.

• Professor Zhang Kang from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) demonstrated through practical cases how AI can be used to integrate Eastern and Western artistic styles and apply them in art and design practice.

• Professor Ma Quan from the Tsinghua University focused on AI—particularly artificial general intelligence—and its impact on and potential reconstruction of art and design education.

• Professor Li Yong from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts elaborated on the research framework, teaching system, and practical pathways of intelligent mobility design within a multidisciplinary integration context.

• Professor Shen Jun from the University of Wollongong, Australia, explored the empowering potential of blockchain and artificial intelligence in cultural innovation.

• Professor Cao Nan from the Tongji University analyzed the transformation of logic and paradigms in “intelligent creative design,” examining new stages of human–machine co-creation and the emergence of autonomous creativity.

• Professor Wang Fenghong from the South China University of Technology shared experiences in leveraging digital and intelligent technologies to promote the integration and regeneration of traditional culture in modern society.

Scholars Sharing Perspectives During the Keynote Session

The conference received extensive coverage from major media outlets, including People’s Daily, Guangming Daily, Southern Daily, China Youth Daily, Guangzhou Daily, and Yangcheng Evening News. Representatives from more than 50 universities, research institutions, and industry associations nationwide in the fields of intelligent innovation and design research, along with over 400 university students, participated in the event.

As one of the organizers of the annual conference, the South China University of Technology has in recent years achieved notable progress in disciplinary development, talent cultivation, and research output through the implementation of its Prosperity Plan for Philosophy and Social Sciences. In the field of design studies, the university has promoted interdisciplinary research between the humanities and engineering through the establishment of interdisciplinary centers, advancing transformations in research paradigms for building an independent Chinese knowledge system. Moving forward, the design discipline will seize opportunities presented by the development of the design and creative industries, actively engage in major national and regional research projects, and focus on cultivating design professionals who meet the demands of new-quality productive forces in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area.