The 10th BRICS Summit (Johannesburg, July 2018) reached unanimous consensus on establishing the BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution (PartNIR). Upholding the BRICS spirit of openness, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation and in line with the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, the PartNIR aims to translate the vision of the second Golden Decade of BRICS Cooperation into reality through deepened BRICS cooperation in digitalization, industrialization, innovation, inclusiveness, and investment. BRICS Summits have consistently reaffirmed the commitment to advancing the PartNIR. The year of 2024 has witnessed historic BRICS expansion. The growing influence of the BRICS cooperation mechanism provides a broader space for advancing the BRICS PartNIR. The 16th BRICS Summit has inaugurated a new chapter in greater BRICS cooperation, pioneering solidarity across the Global South.
The BRICS Industrial Innovation Contest is a flagship event under the BRICS PartNIR, playing a vital role in advancing practical cooperation among member states. The contest was formally recognized in the keynote speech delivered by President Xi Jinping at the 13th BRICS Summit in 2021. It was subsequently endorsed in the 14th BRICS Summit Beijing Declaration (2022) and the 16th BRICS Summit Kazan Declaration (2024). Between 2022 and 2024, the initiative was also incorporated into the Joint Declarations of the 6th, 7th, and 8th BRICS Industry Ministers Meetings.
To jointly seize opportunities and address challenges brought by the new industrial revolution, China has focused on human resource development and project cooperation in this context. From 2020 to 2024, China successfully hosted five editions of the Industrial Innovation Contest, which received over 6,000 project submissions from BRICS nations and engaged more than 10,000 participating teams. The contest has served as an effective platform for healthy competition, friendly exchanges, and mutual learning among participants, while fostering a collaborative environment for industrial innovation and talent exchange across BRICS countries.