Shanghai emerges as international research and development hub

Overseas expansion

Against this robust domestic industrial backdrop, Shanghai's AI enterprises are also stepping up global expansion.

AgiBot, a company specializing in humanoid and embodied-intelligence systems, for example, has expanded its footprint to Italy and Germany, a crucial step in its global market expansion.

Instead of merely launching demonstration robots, the company plans to integrate its mature industrial robot solutions into existing standard automated production lines to achieve large-scale deployment across Europe.

Meanwhile, Unitree Robotics has opened an embodied intelligence experience store on Shanghai's West Nanjing Road. The store transforms people's stereotype that high-end intelligent robots can only be viewed from afar, offering a one-stop space for visitors to observe, touch, interact with and purchase robotic products.

WAIC City Walk

While Shanghai's AI industries achieve remarkable breakthroughs that fuel high-end manufacturing and global market expansion, the city also strives to bring cutting-edge technology closer to ordinary residents.

WAIC City Walk, a brand of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference, serves as a people-oriented flagship initiative that dismantles the boundary between industrial tech achievements and everyday urban life, making AI accessible and enjoyable for all citizens.

The initiative debuted last year, connecting more than 100 classic AI experience spots across Shanghai via five themed routes and forming an interactive citywide digital map that attracted 58,000 check-in visits.

This year, the conference's application and experience module further breaks the physical limitations of traditional exhibitions, transporting AI technologies out of exhibition halls and into the heart of urban communities.

It establishes a three-tier immersive AI experience system covering exhibition venues, urban blocks and the whole city, pooling AI resources from all 16 districts of Shanghai to demonstrate how AI empowers technological implementation, livelihood-focused applications and industrial upgrading.

The exhibition zone houses five major AI interactive areas, featuring robot interactions, impromptu AI creation, cutting-edge technologies, AI art and other diverse experiences.

Six citywide themed routes have been planned around six key directions: AI innovation ecosystem, popular science exploration, urban renewal, consumer entertainment, industrial innovation and Yangtze River Delta sci-tech development.

These routes link more than 25 distinctive sites, including an AI matrix store in Zhangjiang Science City, SenseTime Experience Center, Fuxing Island Embodied Intelligence Real-Scenario Space, META500 Sci-Tech Art Space and the Yangtze River Delta Hi-Tech Park.

Each route comes with a themed storyline such as"24 hours of AI entrepreneurship" and "future city life challenges", paired with entertaining and rewarding missions. Every stop acts as a scene, weaving a complete narrative thread of "encounter — partnership — exploration — coexistence".

The immersive interactive experience makes AI accessible to the general public, tears down professional barriers and realizes universal popularization of AI knowledge.

More inclusive than previous editions, this year's activity is open to citizens free of charge. Built upon Alipay's ecosystem, the dedicated mini-program "WAIC City scenic map" integrates route recommendations, location check-ins, favorites collection, social sharing and real-time popularity rankings, enabling digital, engaging and citywide event operation.

After the conference concludes, participants can keep their AI companions, check-in records and experience outcomes permanently. This breaks the time limit of short-term exhibitions and extends WAIC's technological influence into residents' daily lives, sustaining momentum for sci-tech cultural tourism across Shanghai.

From an industrial perspective, WAIC City Walk also serves as an open testing ground for city-level AI applications. It showcases AI achievements in transportation, healthcare, commerce and manufacturing, verifies the commercial viability of technologies, and delivers practical references for industrial players across all sectors.