On July 18, during the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), Lou Yongqi, President of SUES, was invited to attend a roundtable discussion hosted by Mr. Alexander De Croo, UN Deputy Secretary-General and Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). At the meeting, De Croo engaged with presidents and tech leaders from multiple universities, including Tsinghua, Fudan, Shanghai Jiao Tong, Tongji, Zhejiang, USTC, HKUST, CityUHK, and SUES, to explore the establishment of new partnerships aimed at ensuring the benefits of AI development reach all countries and communities. President Lou highlighted SUES' approaches and practices in accelerating the development of a world-class application-oriented innovative university with distinctive industry features through the Spinovation concept and AI empowerment, fostering interdisciplinary integration across engineering, management, and design disciplines, and serving the high-quality and sustainable development of Shanghai's industries and society.
According to UNDP reports, De Croo's visit to Shanghai included not only his participation in the 2026 WAIC and the High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance, but also extensive exchanges with government agencies, academia, the private sector, and international partners. The visit aims to strengthen cooperation in responsible and inclusive AI development, promote the implementation of the Global Digital Compact, and accelerate the joint achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
