Promoting Integration through Competition: Research on the Model and Path of Constructing Cross-Strait Youth AI Innovation Competition

Sun, 12 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

1. Origin of the problem and research significance

Promoting the integration of youth from both sides of the Taiwan Strait is a key link in the historical process of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. For a long time, the mainland has always promoted cross-Strait youth exchanges with the greatest sincerity, and has played a positive role in enhancing mutual understanding between cross-Strait youths through traditional modes such as visits, study tours, and cultural festivals. However, with the changing times and profound changes in the information environment, traditional communication models are gradually facing new challenges. For “Generation Z” Taiwanese youth who have grown up with the Internet, short videos and artificial intelligence, the appeal of one-way visits or lecture-style communication is declining. They are more eager for experiences that enable in-depth participation, interactive collaboration and the realization of personal value. At the same time, Taiwan’s complex public opinion environment may interfere with the effectiveness of traditional exchanges, causing some Taiwan youth’s understanding of the mainland to remain at the level of fragmented and one-sided information, making it difficult to form a comprehensive and objective understanding. In this context, how to build a new communication paradigm that is more in line with the characteristics of contemporary youth, can better stimulate their inner driving force, and can better overcome information barriers has become an urgent issue in the current cross-strait youth exchange work. Against this background, the cutting-edge scientific and technological field represented by artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming an important breakthrough to solve this dilemma.

This study aims to systematically study the models and paths of cross-strait youth AI competitions, and explore how to promote the in-depth integration of cross-strait youths through event design, which has theoretical and practical significance. In a theoretical sense, it helps to enrich the theoretical system of cross-strait youth exchanges and identity. Existing research mostly focuses on the evaluation of the effects of traditional communication models, while paying less attention to new communication paradigms driven by AI technology. This study will combine the issue setting theory of communication, social identity theory and contact theory of social psychology to deeply analyze the internal mechanism of AI competition in promoting youth integration, and provide a new theoretical perspective for understanding cross-strait youth interaction in the new era. In a practical sense, this research aims to provide an operational reference framework for government departments at all levels, universities and technology companies to design and organize cross-strait youth AI competitions. By systematically sorting out the experience and dilemmas of existing events, this study will propose a three-in-one event model of “issue guidance-collaboration and co-creation-value empowerment” in order to help upgrade cross-strait AI events from a mere “technical interaction” to an effective “integrated identity” platform, effectively improve the quality and effectiveness of youth exchanges with Taiwan, and provide solid practical support for promoting the common development of cross-strait youth and ultimately achieving spiritual harmony.

2. Development status and practical difficulties of cross-strait youth AI competition

Judging from current practice, the development of cross-strait youth AI competitions shows obvious characteristics of “technical empowerment + scenario expansion”. Initial attempts were mostly focused on competitive competitions with technology as the core. For example, the 3rd Cross-Strait Artificial Intelligence-Industrial Robot Competition held in Fuzhou in 2025 attracted the participation of 60 cross-strait teams, including 11 Taiwanese teams and 15 Fujian and Taiwan mixed teams. By setting up specific technology tracks such as drones and intelligent handling, and combining it with an “online + offline” hybrid model, this type of event has successfully provided young people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait with a primary interactive platform based on professional skills.

On this basis, competitions focusing on innovation and entrepreneurship further connect technology with industrial needs, providing Taiwanese youth with more direct opportunities to implement. The “Cross-Strait Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition” held in Changzhou in 2025 is a typical example. The competition has high-end equipment, electronic information and other tracks, and a special “Taipei Youth Service Station” has been set up to provide policy consultation, mentor matching and investment and financing services to Taiwanese contestants. Finally, through project signing and park settlement, “competition promotes production”. The significance of this type of competition is to transform “integrated development” from an abstract concept into concrete career opportunities, thus effectively enhancing the motivation of Taiwanese youth to participate.

Although the Cross-Strait Youth AI Competition has made the above progress, there are still some deep difficulties in achieving the core goal of “promoting integration through competition”, which makes the integration effect easy to remain at a shallow level of interaction and difficult to transform into deep recognition. Including the limitations of topic setting, the de-institutionalization of collaboration mechanisms, and the break of the post-game value transformation chain, etc. Overall, the development of the Cross-Strait Youth AI Competition has gone through the initial stage of using technology as a medium to attract participation. However, to achieve its ultimate goal of promoting “spiritual fit”, it must also cross the key gap from “technical interaction” to “integrated identity”.

3. Conceptual model of “promoting financing through competition”: issue guidance, collaborative co-creation and value empowerment

In response to the difficulties that cross-strait youth AI competitions face in practice such as limited topics, loose collaboration, and broken value chains analyzed previously, this study proposes a set of systematic solutions with the core goal of “promoting integration and identity”—a three-in-one “promoting integration through competition” conceptual model of “issue guidance-collaboration and co-creation-value empowerment”.

Issue guidance is the logical starting point and soul of this model. Its core lies in sublimating the competition from a mere “technical problem solving” to a “mission practice” carrying a common vision. According to the issue setting theory, the issues of the event directly shape the cognitive framework and value orientation of the participants. The design of the topic should follow three basic principles: first, practical relevance; second, commonality of values; and third, technological cutting-edgeness. Through the topics designed in this way, the competition is no longer just a technical competition, but has become a platform for thought and action for young people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to work together to cope with common challenges and create a better future. Under the guidance of grand issues, collaborative co-creation has become a key practical link to internalize “common mission” into “collective identity”. Specific strategies may include: first, implementing mandatory mixed formations; second, designing a structured collaboration process; third, providing an integrated AI collaboration platform that integrates cloud computing power, shared data sets and collaborative programming tools from platforms such as Baidu’s “Fei Paddle” or Alibaba’s “Tianchi” to clear technical obstacles for cross-regional collaboration.

Ultimately, Value Empowerment constitutes the closed loop and long-term guarantee of this model, aiming to transform short-term participation in the event into long-term value for the personal development of Taiwanese youth, thereby achieving a sustainable integration effect. According to expectancy theory, the strength of an individual’s motivation to participate in an activity depends on his or her assessment of the expected rewards that the behavior can bring. Therefore, a complete post-game value conversion chain must be built to make the participation experience truly “value for money.” This chain should include three levels: first, the connection of career development channels; second, the incubation support of innovative projects; and finally, the construction and maintenance of long-term communities, that is, all contestants will be included in the “Cross-Strait Youth AI Talent Pool”, and through regular online sharing, offline visits and project cooperation, a communication network for continuous interaction and common growth will be formed.

4. Specific case: “Straits Youth AI Integration Innovation Competition” program design

In order to transform the aforementioned conceptual model of “issue guidance-collaborative co-creation-value empowerment” into an operational practical path, this study designed a specific case called the “Strait Youth AI Integration Innovation Competition” (hereinafter referred to as the “Contest”).

The core positioning of the competition is “a flagship AI innovation event serving the integrated development of both sides of the Taiwan Strait”, and its annual theme is set as “AI Empowers Collaborative Innovation of Straits Ports and Industrial Chains”. Participants are open to young people aged 18 to 45 on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, including college students, young engineers and start-up enterprise teams, aiming to attract the most innovative groups from both sides of the Taiwan Strait. In order to ensure the professionalism and authority of the event, the competition is planned to be guided by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, the Ministry of Science and Technology and other national ministries and commissions, and jointly organized by the Fujian Provincial People’s Government and relevant local governments (such as Xiamen, Fuzhou, and Quanzhou). Top universities on both sides of the Taiwan Strait (such as Tsinghua University, Xiamen University, and National Taiwan University) and mainland China’s leading technology companies (such as Zhipu Technology, Volcano Engine, Magic Square Quantification) will be invited to deeply participate in the co-organizer, relying on their mature computing power platforms to provide all-round technical support.

In terms of topic guidance, the competition carefully designed three parallel tracks with both technical challenges and integration value around the annual theme. The first track is “Smart Port and Logistics Optimization”. The second track is “AIGC Empowering Chinese Cultural Heritage”. The third track is “AI-driven cross-border e-commerce and supply chain finance”. The design of these topics closely combines technological exploration with serving the common interests of both sides of the Taiwan Strait, effectively avoiding the limitations of purely technical competitions and ensuring that the event has a strong integration orientation from the very beginning.

In terms of the design of the collaborative co-creation mechanism, the competition has adopted a series of institutional measures to ensure in-depth interaction between young people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. First, enforce mandatory mixed formations. Second, build a structured collaboration process. Finally, relying on the integrated AI collaboration platform of the co-organizer, it provides all teams with unified cloud computing power, shared data sets, collaborative programming environment and project management tools, completely eliminating technical barriers to cross-regional collaboration, allowing young people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to seamlessly connect and work side by side in the same digital space, thereby establishing a strong team identity and personal friendship in the process of jointly solving problems.

In terms of building a value empowerment system, the competition is committed to creating a complete value chain from participation to personal development. At the level of career development, the competition has signed talent cooperation agreements with more than 50 well-known mainland technology companies, port groups and financial institutions, providing the winning team members with “through-train internships” and final qualifications for school recruitment; at the level of project incubation, the competition has established a million-level “Cross-Strait Youth AI Innovation Fund” to provide seed-round investments for winning projects with commercial potential, and recommend them to settle in national-level cross-strait youth entrepreneurship bases in Xiamen, Fuzhou and other places for free, and enjoy a full set of incubation services.

5. Path suggestions for cross-strait youth AI innovation competitions

Based on the aforementioned analysis of the development status and dilemma of cross-strait youth AI competition, as well as the construction of the “issue guidance-collaborative co-creation-value empowerment” model and specific cases, this study aims to promote the healthy and sustainable development of this new communication paradigm and proposes the following four interrelated path suggestions.

First of all, top-level design and policy guidance for the event should be carried out from the central level. The core is to establish an authoritative issue release and certification mechanism. Secondly, institutional design must be used to ensure the in-depth collaboration and co-creation of young people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait in the game. The key is to promote mandatory mixed formations and structured collaboration processes. Furthermore, there is an urgent need to build a full-chain value empowerment system from competitions to personal development. The core lies in institutionally linking the competition experience with the long-term development opportunities of Taiwanese youth in the mainland. Finally, we should promote the joint construction of a national-level “Cross-Strait Youth AI Innovation Collaboration Cloud Platform” to serve as the technical base and community carrier for all competitions.