Dubai - An artificial intelligence–driven flood mitigation system developed in southwest China's Chongqing municipality has been named a finalist for the Dubai International Award for Best Practices, marking a rare international recognition for a Chinese urban governance technology.

On February 5, organizers of the 2026 World Government Summit announced that the AI-Powered Urban Flood Mitigation Meteorological System from Chongqing had been shortlisted in the urban infrastructure planning and management category. Only two projects worldwide were selected for the final list this year.

The system was built by Chongqing Yunji Digital Technology Co., Ltd., a state-affiliated technology firm under the Chongqing Meteorological Bureau. In China, meteorological bureaus are public institutions responsible not only for weather forecasting but also for disaster prevention and early warning at the municipal and provincial levels.

In an exclusive interview with Bridging News, Chen Fang, chairman of Chongqing Yunji Digital Technology Co., Ltd., highlighted the system’s most successful real-world application during the July 12, 2024 flood peak on the Jialing River, one of the Yangtze River's major tributaries.

According to Chen, the system predicted both the timing and volume of the flood crest, enabling district governments to evacuate approximately 100,000 residents before the peak. As a result, no fatalities were reported. Official assessments showed that the affected population fell by 54%, while direct economic losses declined by 5.9% compared with previous flood events of a similar scale.

Technically, the system integrates satellite observations, weather radar, and dense ground-based monitoring stations to track rainfall with millimeter-level precision. Using AI-driven flood simulation models with a vertical error margin of 0.3 meters, it can issue early warnings to mobile devices within one second, providing officials with what they describe as a critical "golden hour" for emergency response.

Chen said the nomination signals a broader transition in China's smart-city exports- from supplying standalone technologies to delivering integrated urban governance solutions. He added that international recognition serves as validation that could accelerate the global adoption of China's data-driven, cross-departmental model for managing extreme weather risks.

Beyond the award process, the Yunji team also delivered a separate technical briefing to the Director General of Dubai Municipality, underscoring growing interest in the system's governance model.

Chen said the technology could be adapted to desert cities such as Dubai, where flash flooding is often triggered by short-duration, high-intensity rainfall. Rather than addressing isolated flood points, he proposed a four-stage, data-driven urban governance framework covering real-time sensing, standardized data modeling, AI-based risk prediction, and closed-loop decision-making across government departments.