The Ministry of Education officially issued a document announcing a new batch of national collaborative innovation centers jointly built by the ministries and the provincial departments. The Collaborative Innovation Center for 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Studies of GDUFS (hereinafter referred to as the "Center") has been identified as one of them. The Center is the first collaborative innovation center of Humanities and Social Sciences Category jointly built by the ministry and the provincial department in Guangdong Province, the first collaborative innovation center of this kind in Chinese foreign language universities, and the first collaborative innovation center related to The Belt and Road Initiative in China.

In November 2009, with a strong support from the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and the Guangdong Provincial Government, GDUFS took the lead in establishing the Guangdong Institute of International Strategy (GIIS), a new think tank based on the university, with its focus on global economic governance and international strategic research, and its efforts in serving the development of national strategy and local economy. After 10 years of construction, GIIS has grown into a well-known local think tank with great influence. It has been awarded as a strategic research base of the Ministry of Education, a key cooperator for policy research of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a member of the "Belt And Road" Think Tank Cooperation Alliance of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, and one of the first batch of key think tanks in Guangdong province. GIIS was awarded the title of Pioneer Worker of Guangdong In 2016, and the Labour Award of Guangdong and the Model Party Branch in National Party Construction in 2018. In February 2018, GIIS ranked 87th among Asian think tanks according to the 2017 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report by the University of Pennsylvania and 3rd for the three consecutive years in the local think tank lists released by the State Council Information Center from 2016 to 2018, and selected as one of China's top 100 think tanks in the Chinese Think Tank Index (CTTI) in 2018 on which it was rated as class A.

GIIS as Key Platforms

In 2012, GDUFS, collaborated with the Institute of World Economics and Politics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Xiamen University, the Center for Contemporary World Studies of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Institute of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce, the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and etc., set up the Guangdong "Going Global" Collaborative Innovation Center with GIIS as its main platform. In July 2014, the Center was identified by the Guangdong Provincial Education Department as a provincial-level collaborative innovation and training center; and in December, the center was renamed as the "Collaborative Innovation Center for 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Studies". In April 2015, the Center was recognized as a provincial-level collaborative innovation center and listed as a national-level collaborative innovation and training center of Guangdong Province. It was assessed as excellence in the 2017 medium-term examination. In 2019, it was assessed as excellence in the performance appraisal by the provincial collaborative innovation center, and was finally recommended by Guangdong Province as a unit to apply for the collaborative innovation center jointly built by the ministry and the provincial department. In September 2019, it was identified as the Collaboration Center jointly built by the Ministry of Education and the provincial department.

The Maritime Silk Road Center founded The International Think Tank Forum of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and held it three times

The Center has received a strong support from ministries of central government and the Guangdong provincial government, with Mr. Dai Bingguo, former State Councilor serving as the honorary chairman of the advisory committee and Mr. Ouyang Weimin, vice governor of the Guangdong Provincial People's Government, serving as the chairman of the advisory committee. The Center is concentrated on five research areas: the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and China's participation in global economic governance, the new pattern of opening up to the outside world and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, the country and region-specific study of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, the maritime cooperation and resource development of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, and the training of national strategic talents in the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Focusing on the major theoretical and practical issues of the national "Belt and Road Initiative", the Center has achieved remarkable results in collaborative construction concerning decision-making, scientific research, talent training and international cooperation: undertaking the major national projects of the "Belt and Road" series, producing series of high-level papers and publications, initially establishing a platform for the 21st century Maritime Silk Road database, and innovating the national strategic talent training model.

With a focus on the major theoretical and practical issues related to the Belt and Road Initiative, the center will serve the construction of the Belt and Road and the strategy of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, systematically carry out scientific and technological innovation, talent training and international cooperation, establish an international academic community for the 21st century Maritime Silk Road Research, produce fruits of high-level scientific research and reports of decision-making and consultancy, and become a domestic first-class, internationally renowned think tank and high-end national talent training platform through the establishment of the collaborative innovation center jointly built by the ministry and provincial department.