Title: Regional Economics Research in the Digital-Intelligent Era

Speaker: Liu Binglian, Distinguished Professor, Nankai University; Dean, Institute of Economic and Social Development, Nankai University; Dean, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Coordinated Development Research Institute, Nankai University; Recipient of the Special Government Allowance of the State Council; Member of the Central Expert Advisory Committee on Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Coordinated Development. He once served as Deputy Director of the Teaching Guidance Committee for Logistics Management and Engineering Programs in Higher Education Institutions of the Ministry of Education, President of the Chinese Regional Science Association, Vice President of the Chinese Regional Economics Association, Member of the China Economic and Social Council, and Honorary Doctor of Flinders University, Australia. He has long been engaged in teaching and research on regional industrial analysis and regional logistics planning. He has presided over projects such as the "National Science and Technology Support Program Project", "Major Projects of the National Social Science Foundation of China", "Major Projects of the Social Science Foundation of the Ministry of Education", "Major Projects of the Marxist Theory Research and Construction Project", and dozens of provincial and municipal government and large enterprise commissioned projects. He has published more than 140 academic papers and nearly 30 monographs, and has won national and provincial-level awards for many times, and has received instructions from central and provincial-level leaders for many times.

Abstract: This lecture discusses regional economic research in the digital-intelligent era from four sections: the development of China’s regional economy, the significance of innovation-driven development and the digital-intelligent revolution, the evolutionary characteristics of regional economy in the digital-intelligent era, and the theoretical innovation of regional economics empowered by digital intelligence. It sorts out the development of China’s regional economy from the changes in the status of regional economy in the reform and opening-up process, and the vision of Chinese-style modernization and regional economic development. It analyzes the significance of innovation-driven development and the digital-intelligent revolution from the new opportunities brought by the new technological revolution to economic development, the new opportunities brought by the new technological revolution to the national destiny, the demand of high-tech development for regional economics, and the application cases of AI in regional economics. It explains the evolutionary characteristics of regional economy in the digital-intelligent era from the national strategy and the foothold of new-quality productive forces, the driving force of digital-intelligent industries for the development of urban agglomerations, and the direction of AI helping regional economic development. It analyzes the theoretical innovation of regional economics empowered by digital intelligence from the transformation of the knowledge system of regional economics and the research characteristics of regional economics in the digital and intelligent era.

Date & time: 25 September 2025, 10:00

Venue: B310, Zhixin Building, Central Campus, Shandong University