As Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) leaders prepare to gather in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, for summit events starting August 31, the group's 25th anniversary is drawing attention to a fast-growing area of cooperation: the digital economy.

Two new platforms launched this year show how that cooperation is moving from policy discussions toward practical projects.

At the 2026 World Intelligent Industry Expo in Tianjin in May, the SCO Digital Intelligence Application Joint Laboratory and the SCO Computing Power Industry Alliance were unveiled. Six projects worth more than 100 million yuan ($14 million) in total were also signed, according to The People's Daily Overseas Edition.

The two platforms address different needs. The laboratory focuses on turning digital technologies into real-world applications, while the alliance aims to improve access to computing power – the processing capacity needed to run AI, cloud services and other data-heavy technologies.

Zhu Shuai, a researcher at the China Center for Information Industry Development, said the two platforms feature two core elements of digital transformation: computing power and practical applications. Their launch, he said, marks a shift in SCO digital cooperation from building consensus to putting projects into practice.

Physical connections are already part of that shift. China has participated in fiber-optic projects linking China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan that have cut regional network latency by 40%, according to The People's Daily. Faster connections make it easier to move the large volumes of data required by cloud computing and AI services.

The computing alliance could take that a step further by helping participating countries share computing resources across borders. In the longer term, such coordination could help narrow gaps in access to advanced computing capacity across the region.

But connecting hardware is only part of the challenge. Countries also need compatible technical rules and useful applications.

That was a focus of the China-SCO Digital Technology Cooperation and Development Forum held in June in Karamay, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Sessions covered communications and computing infrastructure, AI applications and the mutual recognition of standards.

China's National Data Administration said this month that cooperation with SCO countries is expanding through projects in digital infrastructure, technology applications, data connectivity and industrial digitalization. The new joint laboratory in Tianjin is among the platforms supporting that work.

The next test is whether these separate pieces can work together across countries with different levels of digital development and different technical standards.

For the SCO, that means the next phase is not simply about building more projects. It is about connecting networks, computing capacity and standards so that data and digital services can move more easily across borders.

If that happens, the roads and trade routes connecting the region could increasingly be joined by another layer of infrastructure – one built to carry data and support AI-driven services.