MACAO — The first BEYOND International Technology Innovation Expo, showcasing frontier technologies and innovations from around the world, opened Thursday in China’s Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR).

Around 300 multi-national corporations, unicorn companies and start-ups, including Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Tencent, exhibited their latest achievements, covering life science, new infrastructure, smart city and future technologies, at an area of nearly 50,000 square meters.

Jason Ho, the co-founder of the expo and president of the Macao Technology General Association, said the three-day event focuses on discussing the future development of science and technology with the theme of “what’s next.”

Science and technology have changed the way people live and work and impacted global social issues such as climate change, environmental pollution and wealth gap, he said.

Zhang Yuzhuo, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, who also heads the China Association for Science and Technology, said at the opening ceremony that the association will support the deepening of cooperation and talent exchange in science, technology and innovation between the Chinese mainland and Macao so as to help with Macao’s appropriate economic diversification and better integration into overall national development.

China’s former chief designer for Shenzhou spaceships Qi Faren expressed his hopes that more scientists, researchers and entrepreneurs from Macao will take part in the country’s space cause.

Experts attending the expo also believed that China’s investments in low carbon have nurtured a massive market opportunity worth trillions of dollars, expecting the country to welcome tremendous changes in the energy industry boosted by government policies.

The expo is hosted by the Macao Technology General Association in collaboration with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, the China Center for International Science and Technology Exchange, and the Chinese Medical Association.

Besides exhibitions, the expo also features several forums covering topics ranging from smart health care, architectural science and technology to artificial intelligence and green economy.