Informe desde China: ¡Crear habilidades, no guerra! Cómo China adopta la ciencia y la innovación para ayudar a los jóvenes a construir un futuro mejor y fomentar la solidaridad internacional
Mi testimonio de diez días en Shanghái, China, sobre IA médica, innovación globalizada y cooperación y renovación internacional entre tecnología y talento
Lee Siu Hin
Red de Solidaridad China-EE.UU.
Red Nacional de Solidaridad con Inmigrantes
Red Action LA
19 de octubre de 2026
https://www.actionla.org/article-detail/6ad6210e63e000679d91162a/9-19-report-from-china-make-skills-not-war-how-china-adopts-science-and-innovation-to-help-youth-build-a-better-future-and-foster-international-solidarity
En la segunda mitad de septiembre de 2026, fui testigo de un auge concentrado de eventos anuales de la industria científica e innovación en todo Shanghái, China. Se celebraron una tras otra una serie de cumbres de alto impacto que cubrieron IA biomédica, globalización de internet, finanzas blockchain, desarrollo de talento cualificado de alto nivel e intercambios y competiciones internacionales de innovación y emprendimiento. Durante estos más de diez días de encuentros industriales, los logros de comercialización tecnológica de vanguardia de China, su ecosistema global de cooperación en innovación y la actualización completa de la innovación científica y tecnológica — que abarcan la recuperación tecnológica, la implementación en el mundo real, la exploración de normas, el desarrollo de la base de talento y las competiciones de habilidades — estuvieron plenamente presentes.
Basándose en la investigación presencial y la plena participación en estos eventos, este informe organiza sistemáticamente los resultados principales, las tendencias del sector, las oportunidades, los retos y las perspectivas sectoriales de este último ciclo de ciencia e innovación. Realiza un análisis en profundidad del panorama actual y la dirección futura de la revolución tecnológica de China, junto con cómo estos desarrollos empoderan a los jóvenes en China y en todo el mundo para construir un futuro mejor.
Aunque soy un activista por la justicia social más que un emprendedor capitalista que aspira a ser el próximo Elon Musk, me impresionó asistir a eventos de startups de alta tecnología como los que se celebran a diario en toda China. Vi a muchos jóvenes enérgicos de China y de todo el mundo esforzándose por convertirse en la próxima generación de pioneros de la alta tecnología por medios pacíficos.
1. Implementación Industrial Central: IA médica como motor central de crecimiento para la ciencia y la innovación
YouTube: https://youtu.be/SHmy1s4k6ds
Douyin (TikTok China): https://v.douyin.com/7CxXNW-X_U4/
Durante esta ronda de eventos de ciencia e innovación en Shanghái, la inteligencia artificial médica destacó como la vía que presume de los entregables más sólidos, despliegues comerciales maduros y una amplia presencia en la industria, formando un ciclo cerrado completo de "I&D, despliegue industrial y aplicación de escenarios en el mundo real". Esto marca que la IA médica nacional ha entrado formalmente en una nueva fase de adopción comercial a gran escala.
El 17 de septiembre, Zhangjiang — ampliamente considerada como el Silicon Valley de China — dio inicio a la Semana Bio de Zhangjiang. Una conferencia especial sobre la investigación y desarrollo de nuevos fármacos impulsada por IA se centró en casos de uso innovadores de IA para flujos de trabajo centrales, incluyendo la identificación de objetivos, el desarrollo de nuevos fármacos y la optimización de ensayos clínicos, ofreciendo conocimientos prácticos y accionables que abordan puntos clave de dolor en el sector biomédico. Como núcleo biomédico de China, los paneles especializados celebrados en Zhangjiang Pharma Valley consolidaron aún más el liderazgo nacional de Shanghái en investigación farmacéutica habilitada por IA y construyeron una plataforma vital de intercambio para mejoras tecnológicas iterativas dentro de esta industria.
El 18 de septiembre, WuXi AppTec celebró su Cumbre Global de Innovación 2026 en Suzhou, al oeste de Shanghái. Como una de las principales organizaciones globales de investigación externalizada de fármacos impulsadas por IA en China, presentaron sus últimos resultados tecnológicos y marcos comerciales en la cumbre. La reunión ilustró claramente las fortalezas competitivas fundamentales de la industria médica-IA de China: aprovechar una cadena industrial farmacéutica completa combinada con la optimización de algoritmos de IA para reducir costes, acortar los plazos de investigación y desarrollo y traducir tecnologías en fase de laboratorio en servicios listos para el mercado. También confirmó que los servicios de externalización farmacéutica impulsados por IA de China han alcanzado competitividad global y se han convertido en una carta de presentación emblemática para el sector biomédico chino que se está globalizando.
Más allá del descubrimiento de nuevos fármacos, la IA médica también ha logrado avances innovadores en casos de uso centrados en el bienestar y la atención a personas mayores. El 19 de septiembre, los delegados de la conferencia Bio-Week visitaron el Parque Industrial de Ciencia y Tecnología para el Cuidado de los Ancianos de Shanghái y probaron hardware de rehabilitación de vanguardia, incluidos robots exoesqueléticos. La integración de este hardware inteligente con la IA responde directamente a las demandas de una sociedad envejecida, extendiendo la tecnología médica de alta gama desde el tratamiento de enfermedades graves y la investigación y desarrollo de nuevos fármacos hasta escenarios inclusivos de la vida cotidiana como la atención a mayores y el apoyo a la rehabilitación en movilidad, logrando una cobertura completa para la vía médica-IA. Probamos la férula robótica de piernas impulsada por IA, que facilita enormemente la subida de escaleras para adultos mayores.
Ese mismo día, se celebró en Fuxing Park un gran evento de bienestar público del Día Nacional del Cuidado Dental, que incluyó consultas clínicas gratuitas, conferencias de divulgación científica, juegos interactivos y sorteos gratuitos. Difundió conocimiento público médico y sanitario, encarnando un modelo de desarrollo industrial que une la innovación científica de alto nivel con iniciativas inclusivas para el bien público.
YouTube: https://youtu.be/qn1HpQ5-ZR8
Douyin (TikTok China): https://v.douyin.com/5s_U1B2iPtU/
2. Intercambios internacionales de ciencia e innovación: Diálogo transfronterizo en TI entre jóvenes chinos y talento global — Construcción de amistades y un camino hacia la prosperidad compartida
YouTube: https://youtu.be/7QTIo8Mojak
Douyin (TikTok China): https://v.douyin.com/sUlS_p6IBro/
Uno de los momentos destacados del ciclo científico e innovador de este septiembre fue la actividad internacional de intercambio de innovación y emprendimiento de alta densidad y múltiples capas que reúne a expertos y jóvenes innovadores. Estos eventos trascienden las fronteras de una sola industria y una sola nación, construyendo un ecosistema abierto con conexiones multifacéticas que conectan China-Corea del Sur, China-Alemania, estudiantes internacionales en China y emprendedores transfronterizos. Ayudan a la globalización tecnológica de China a absorber recursos mundiales y a ampliar las vías de colaboración.
Se establecieron conexiones sustantivas mediante intercambios bilaterales de startups transfronterizas. La noche del 17 de septiembre se celebró la Noche de Intercambio de Corea en el Edificio Kehai de Zhangjiang, Pudong. Esta sesión exploró vías prácticas para que las startups surcoreanas accedieran al mercado chino y analizó oportunidades y obstáculos a los que se enfrentan las start-ups tecnológicas surcoreanas que operan en China, tanto desde perspectivas empresariales como culturales. Las perspectivas de emprendedores extranjeros ofrecieron nuevos puntos de referencia para las empresas chinas que buscan asociaciones en el extranjero e integración de recursos transfronterizos. El 18 de septiembre, la Noche Aceleradora de Startups Alemana Alemana se celebró cerca del distrito del templo Jing'an, en el centro de la ciudad. Las startups alemanas de alto potencial realizaron road-shows de proyectos. La reunión creó un centro de comunicación transfronteriza relajado y eficiente que reunió a profesionales de China y Alemania, estudiantes alemanes visitantes y partes interesadas de países extranjeros para intercambiar ideas técnicas, estrategias emprendedoras y recursos industriales. Cerró de manera significativa las brechas colaborativas entre las comunidades de startups chinas y europeas.
Jóvenes innovadores globales siguieron convergiendo localmente.Las noches del 20y 21 de septiembre se celebró un evento de intercambio para estudiantes internacionales que estudian en China en el Parque Caohejing Hi-Tech del distrito de Xuhui, otro importante centro tecnológico de Shanghái. Estudiantes internacionales de todo el mundo compartieron sus experiencias emprendedoras y profesionales trabajando en China. El diálogo transfronterizo liderado por jóvenes superó los modelos convencionales de cooperación industrial, desbloqueando un potencial colaborativo más ligero, innovador e intersectorial e inyectando dinamismo juvenil y global en el ecosistema local de ciencia e innovación.
La globalización de la IA surgió como un tema central de discusión. El 21 de septiembre, dos encuentros emblemáticos — el GO Summit Shanghai AI & Embodied Globalization Forum y el Global Startup Meetup — se celebraron consecutivamente. Se centraron en estrategias de expansión global para las empresas chinas de internet e IA. Los asistentes debatieron cuestiones clave sobre la entrada al mercado extranjero, operaciones localizadas y adaptación técnica para las empresas tecnológicas chinas nacionales que se expanden internacionalmente. Muchas mujeres profesionales de TI participaron activamente en estas conversaciones, aportando puntos de vista diversos y desmanteniendo estereotipos unilaterales dentro del sector tecnológico. Representantes de empresas con presencia consolidada en el extranjero compartieron experiencias operativas reales, ofreciendo valiosas orientaciones prácticas para empresas nacionales de IA e internet que aspiran a entrar en mercados globales.
Entre el 22 y el 24 de septiembre, la Serie de Innovación S-Tron de Shanghái alcanzó su punto álgido en el West Bund Art Centre en el distrito de Xuhui. Miles de creadores y start-ups de IA de China y de todos los rincones del mundo se reunieron allí. Exposiciones, conferencias principales, seminarios y road-shows de proyectos crearon una plataforma global inmersiva de intercambio científico-tecnológico. Centrada en los avances de vanguardia en IA e internet, la serie priorizó la iteración técnica, la innovación en modelos de negocio y la traducción comercial, provocando continuamente choques impulsados por ideas y creatividad. Funciona como el principal centro de Shanghái para agregar recursos globales de innovación en IA. La noche del 24 de septiembre, la gala de clausura de startups jóvenes reunió a innovadores de todo el mundo de los años 90 y posteriores a los 2000. Los jóvenes participantes presentaron proyectos de IA de nueva generación, aportando nueva inspiración para la investigación y el desarrollo y el emprendimiento lean-model, llevando a la Serie de Innovación S-Tron a un exitoso cierre de este año.
YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZRIIwtwrfj8
Douyin (TikTok China): https://v.douyin.com/uhEDiLBGcxc/
3. Reflections on Frontier Technologies: Opportunities and Risks of Blockchain-Enabled Financial Innovation
Alongside rapid iterative progress in AI and biomedical hard technologies, digital-finance and blockchain innovation stood out as key frontier tracks during this science-and-innovation cycle. These developments unlock major fintech-led opportunities to support RMB internationalization in China, yet they also lay bare inherent industry hazards and constraints imposed by external regulatory frameworks.
On September 23rd, the Shanghai Blockchain International Week Summit opened on the Bund district. Representatives from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and leading domestic blockchain-finance experts assembled to debate frontier subjects: global blockchain policy, cross-border payment-and-settlement, future financial infrastructure, agent-driven economies, tokenized assets, privacy-preserving computation, quantum computing, and cryptographic security. The event fostered deep dialogue bridging policy, finance, academia, and technology. The summit's core significance lies in mapping pathways for financial innovation built around digital-RMB and blockchain technologies. Technical advances can accelerate cross-border RMB settlement and asset digitalization, advance RMB internationalization, and open new development horizons for China's domestic digital-finance industry.
At the same time, the summit highlighted non-trivial systemic risks facing the sector. Worldwide rule-making for blockchain and digital-currency ecosystems remains largely dominated by the United States. Some summit speakers warned against US financial hegemony, while others endorsed American financial regulations and voiced excessive support for the stablecoin framework launched under the Trump administration. This creates potential risks: domestic markets may blindly adopt foreign rules, triggering capital outflows. It delivers a cautionary lesson for China's fintech sector: digital-financial innovation must uphold technological self-reliance, safeguard domestic financial-security guardrails, remain vigilant against external regulatory infiltration and ideological influence, and strike a measured balance between opening-up and risk mitigation.
4. Young Talent and Industrial Foundations: A Robust Skilled Workforce Underpins Scientific Innovation
YouTube: https://youtu.be/M8NhM320Rs8
Douyin (TikTok China): https://v.douyin.com/TTo7ejsg6fo/
Talent development constitutes the foundational bedrock for high-end technological innovation. Held in late September, the 48th WorldSkills Competition showcased China's accomplishments in cultivating skilled personnel. It fills grassroots-talent gaps within science-and-innovation industries and builds a multi-layered talent framework combining high-level R&D innovators and skilled technical craftspeople.
Largely unknown to the general US public, the WorldSkills Competition — often described as the “Olympics of craftsmanship” — is an international vocational-skills contest designed to help young workers master craft-expertise.
Hosted at Shanghai's National Exhibition and Convention Centre between September 22 to 27, this edition set an all-time-high scale record. It drew 1,385 competitors representing 68 countries and regions, competing across 64 disciplines spanning six major categories: manufacturing and engineering technologies; information-and-communication technologies; construction and building technologies; transport and logistics; creative arts and fashion; and social-and-personal services.
China fielded a 220-member national delegation comprising 71 competitors, 64 experts, 64 interpreters, and support staff, entering all 64 competition categories. Most Chinese competitors are young students enrolled in vocational-technical colleges, demonstrating China's deep reservoir of young skilled talent. Running parallel to the contests were the WorldSkills Congress and WorldSkills Expo, realizing a “one competition, two conferences” event structure. Tens of thousands of on-site spectators observed the competitions and witnessed elite-level craft expertise.
The WorldSkills Competition is far more than a global vocational-skills arena; it offers a concentrated showcase of worldwide talent-training systems. Vocational-technical colleges from across China operated exhibition booths to display their talent-training outputs and research-and-development strengths. This clearly illustrates the substantial resources governments, market actors, and societies globally invest in building skilled-labor capacity. Amid far-reaching global shifts and ongoing technological revolution, high-end scientific breakthroughs cannot happen without frontline skilled-talent input. Specialist roles in precision manufacturing, information-technology, and intelligent-equipment operation-and-maintenance are indispensable for real-world deployment of cutting-edge technologies and large-scale industrial advancement.
Furthermore, the competition advances a core ethos of peaceful innovation: technologies and practical skills ought to serve people's livelihood improvements, industrial upgrading, and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, rather than serve military rivalry. This underscores the positive value orientation guiding China's science-and-innovation development.
Expanded Participation from Global-South Nations and Women
A striking trend within this competition was markedly higher participation from developing nations and women innovators. This arises partly from active advocacy by international organizations and also reflects rising global priority placed on skills development.
- Wider geographic reach: Within Africa alone, WorldSkills Africa includes at least nine official member states: Algeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and others. For this 48th Shanghai edition, multiple African nations — including Egypt, Morocco, and Namibia — sent competing delegates.
- Capacity-building support: WorldSkills International has designated South Korea as its inaugural Capacity-Building Centre, tasked with transferring competition structures and skills-development frameworks to developing economies. Its programs cover Costa Rica, Colombia, Mongolia, Namibia, Zambia, Laos, the Philippines, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, and additional territories. Germany has also established long-term mentorship partnerships with Ghana to develop local expert cohorts and training infrastructures.
- China's prominent contributions: Through initiatives such as the Luban Workshops, China has set-up 17 workshop sites across 15 African countries, training more than ten-thousand young Africans. For example, Namibian contestant Wilhelmina Amadhila took part in the Fashion-Technology event, while an Angolan student claimed a silver medal in Industrial Robotics.
Women's Participation: Breaking Barriers and Broadening Horizons
Female participation has grown gradually yet consistently, reflected both in rising participant numbers and expanded disciplinary diversity.
WorldSkills amended its competition statutes to admit female competitors in 1964, and women took part for the first time in 1967. In that same year, Spain's Encarnación Molina became the first female gold-medal winner, taking top honors in Women's Hairdressing.
Decades later, female competitors have moved past traditionally female-coded fields such as hairdressing and fashion-technology to compete in Rail-Vehicle Technology, Chemical-Laboratory Technology, Industrial-Design Technology, and many other technical disciplines. Young women competitors from Middle-Eastern nations including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia contested events covering information-technology, drone operations, and computer-aided design (CAD).
Limited United-States Participation
Against robust engagement from many Global-South, Asian, and European countries, United-States participation in WorldSkills remains modest. This stems from intertwined sociocultural factors, education-system design, funding structures, and industrial-sector priorities — forming a sharp contrast with its high-profile performance within global sports competitions.
US society is shaped by an entrenched elite-driven “four-year-college degree obsession”. A university bachelor's degree is widely treated as the sole legitimate marker of career success, while vocational education has long carried stigma as an educational pathway for “struggling students”. This long-standing prejudice persists; vocational tracks are frequently dismissed as inferior fallback options. Many young Americans feel social pressure to pursue university degrees even when these programs are poorly matched to their aptitudes. According to a 2025 Pew Research Center survey, merely 30 % of blue-collar workers believe their occupations are respected by fellow US citizens.
Even amid severe domestic shortages of skilled technical labor, US industry chronically under-invests in workforce-skills development. More than 400,000 manufacturing vacancies exist across the United-States automotive sector, yet technician-training programs lag behind industry needs. Curricula offered at many US vocational colleges fail to keep pace with technological evolution, creating a mismatch between graduate-talent supply and real-world industrial labor demands.
These overlapping conditions explain the United-States' low visibility at WorldSkills. At the 2017 Abu-Dhabi WorldSkills Competition, the United-States placed only 32nd based on average competitor scores, and it fielded comparatively few participants for this latest Shanghai-hosted competition.
The United-States' underwhelming engagement with WorldSkills ultimately reflects deep-rooted sociocultural bias, misaligned educational-policy priorities, insufficient national strategic backing, and short-termist industrial attitudes toward skilled-workforce development. Where “university-above-all” becomes mainstream social orthodoxy and neoliberal policy shifts have displaced large-numbers of industrial-sector workers, the intrinsic value of hands-on practical skills becomes systematically devalued within that societal system.
5. Upgrading Industrial Soft Power: Design Innovation Empowers Diverse Industries
Between September 26th to 30th, the Shanghai World Design Capital Conference convened. Co-hosted by the Shanghai Municipal People's Government and UNESCO starting in 2024, this comprehensive international design summit runs annually. It delivers a global collaborative platform for design-innovation cooperation to advance industrial progress and enrich urban living. Distinct from hard-technology-focused competitive events, this conference targets industrial soft-power upgrading. Through creative design, scenario-driven innovation, and aesthetic-led value creation, it showcases the global influence of Chinese design and Chinese cultural aesthetics. It fosters deep integration between technological innovation and human-centered creative work and enables two-way mutual reinforcement between hard-tech advancement and soft-cultural-value output. It further solidifies Shanghai's standing as one of the world's core cities for innovative-design practice.
These conference activities do not merely foster international young-talent collaboration. They also serve to dismantle entrenched racist Western stereotypes: the biased narrative claiming China and Global-South nations lack artistic capacity for original creative design; the related assumption that Western nations alone embody sophisticated taste and humanistic creativity while China is framed as tasteless and backward — a mindset wherein Europe and the United-States claim ownership over civilizational standards.
Latest statistical data indicates manufactured goods no longer represent the United-States' largest-value export category; services and entertainment now generate the highest revenue within US international-trade balances. According to figures published by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis and Trading Economics, US service-sector exports totaled $1,237.9 billion in 2025, accounting for approximately 56.86 % of total US exports (valued at $2,177.13 billion). Beyond generating substantial commercial profit, service exports constitute a key soft-power projection instrument deployed overseas, cementing the United-States' position among the world's leading cross-border commercial-service importers and exporters. This helps explain why political actors from both major US parties’ express apprehension toward China's TikTok, DeepSeek, Huawei, vocational-education institutions, and even dumpling—the everyday Chinese food culture.
6. China versus the United States: My Field Observations
The intensive run of Shanghai science-and-innovation events across ten-plus September days in 2026 supports China and Global-South partners in building a holistic science-and-innovation ecosystem anchored in leading-edge medical-AI capabilities, global-empowerment frameworks, fintech breakthroughs, robust skilled-talent foundations, and design-innovation strengths. It vividly demonstrates the iterative speed and global competitiveness of China's science-and-technology innovation. From an industrial-implementation standpoint, medical-AI has achieved mature end-to-end R&D-to-commercialization closed loops. Its cultivated skilled-talent pools make this one of China's most competitive tracks for tech-driven global outreach.
From an opening-up perspective, multi-faceted international exchanges dissolve innovation-related barriers; youth-led startups and cross-border enterprises function as central driving forces for global innovation. From a foundational standpoint, high-level research-oriented innovators and hands-on skilled craftspeople develop side-by-side to reinforce industrial progress.
While the United-States and Western nations host comparable conferences, most are organized by large private corporations. They frequently charge steep admission fees or impose high access thresholds, turning them into exclusive circles largely closed to ordinary members of the public. By contrast, many equivalent conferences held within Chinese government-organized and are free-to-attend, operating as inclusive public-learning platforms open for broad-based participation.
Looking ahead, China's science-and-technology-innovation ecosystem must keep deepening real-world commercial deployment for hard-technology outputs. It needs to strengthen independent domestic R&D capabilities across frontier domains including medical AI, embodied intelligence, and blockchain technology; advance high-standard opening-up policies and refine cross-border science-and-technology-cooperation ecosystems; and improve tiered talent-development systems that balance high-end research-driven innovation with grassroots practical-skills application. At the same time, China will hold firm to financial- and technological-security bottom lines, break free from constraints imposed by external rule-making regimes, and continue advancing its technological revolution guided by core principles of independent innovation, open-minded collaboration, and peaceful development. This will consolidate China's leading standing within global science-and-technology-innovation landscapes.
7. Final Remarks
It was entirely unplanned and coincidental that over roughly ten days toward late September 2026 I was able to attend more than a dozen publicly-accessible, free-of-charge tech-startup events, conferences, and networking salons of varying scales across Shanghai. It bears emphasis that events of this nature take-place daily across many cities throughout China, not only within Shanghai.
The contextual contrast is stark: while the Trump-era United-States undermines science-and-technology progress through racist targeting of immigrants, China, and vaccine-related narratives, tech billionaires accrue massive profits building data centers even as local communities grapple with runaway inflation and soaring household utility costs.
September 28, separate from tech-startup-related programming: on a crisp evening during the Chinese Mid-Autumn (Moon) Festival, the 3rd Shanghai International Light Festival unfolded. Its primary venue at Yanzhong Green Space in Huangpu District featured a dazzling light show projected across park lawns. Beneath the bright full moon, young couples and families enjoyed pleasant outdoor evenings. Though superficially appearing to rely only on simple projectors screening moving imagery, this light-show production represented a sophisticated interdisciplinary undertaking merging artificial-intelligence workflows, artistic creation, craft expertise, and cross-border international collaboration. My ten-day tech-sector field visit across Shanghai reinforces one core lesson: technological achievements ought to improve quality-of-life for all people, rather than serve warfare or exploitative capitalist profit-seeking. Make Skills, Not War.
YouTube: https://youtu.be/91SmGaNXbu4
Douyin (TikTok China): https://v.douyin.com/JEpKBhlkYZA/
* Research Supported by Doubao-AI
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