WAIC fosters partnership for a better future

World Artificial Intelligence Conference links innovation with demand, drives opportunities in industry-focused collaboration and contributes to global AI governance

By Hao Nan | China Daily | Updated: 2026-07-17 09:58

**From left on the front row:** Mark Nitzberg, executive director of the Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence at UC Berkeley AI Research Lab; E Weinan, mathematician and member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Richard S. Sutton, professor of computing science at University of Alberta, research scientist at Oak Lab Inc, and chief scientist at Openmind; and Omar M. Yaghi, winner of the 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry and chair professor at Tsinghua University. **From left on the back row:** Harry Shum, former executive vice-president of Microsoft Corp, foreign member of the US National Academy of Engineering and council chairman of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Nicholas B. Dirks, president and CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences; Gilles Brassard, winner of the 2025 Turing Award and professor of Computer Science at the University of Montreal; and Yoshua Bengio, winner of Turing Award, full professor at University of Montreal, Canada, and co-president and scientific director of LawZero.

WAIC CONNECT

WAIC CONNECT, the official industrial matchmaking platform of the annual event, is built to accelerate the commercial rollout of AI technologies.

This year, the platform will unlock 20 billion yuan ($2.93 billion) in real procurement demand and establish partnerships with industry leaders including COFCO, CRRC, Changan Automobile, China Energy Investment, Shanghai Electric, India's Tata Group, Unity and Nestle. It facilitates seamless one-on-one business matchmaking between tech solution suppliers and industrial buyers.

The scope of on-site matchmaking spaces has been expanded to three core zones with differentiated positioning.

The Shanghai World Expo Exhibition Hall serves as the core venue for industrial application exchanges, showcasing industrial large models, embodied intelligence, digital transformation solutions for finance, manufacturing and healthcare, as well as pathways for cross-border market expansion.

The Zhangjiang venue operates as a dedicated hub for computing infrastructure, with a focus on chip manufacturing, computing centers, quantum computing and chip-computing integration.

In contrast, the Xuhui West Bank venue acts as a gateway to future life scenarios, centering on smart wearables, AIGC (AI-generated content) cultural creation, intelligent public services and cultural tourism consumption.

Complementing fixed-zone exhibitions, over 20 themed industrial matchmaking sessions will run throughout the conference. Each session is tailored to specific procurement requirements and supported by exclusive purchasing delegations.

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