en.Wedoany.com Reported - On July 7, the Information Office of Shanghai Municipal Government held a press conference. Chen Jie, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and Vice Mayor of Shanghai, introduced the preparations for the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and the High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance, as well as the development of the AI industry. The conference will be held from July 17 to 20 across three locations and four venues in Shanghai: Expo, Zhangjiang, and West Bund. Centered on the theme "Intelligent Partners, Co-creating the Future," it will feature six major sections: forums and meetings, exhibitions and displays, awards and competitions, application experiences, innovation incubation, and talent recruitment.
This year's conference is jointly hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the China Association for Science and Technology, and the Shanghai Municipal People's Government. Unlike a single exhibition event, this conference emphasizes a composite structure of "industry showcase + technology exchange + governance topics + innovation incubation." It not only displays AI products and application progress but also integrates global AI governance, international cooperation, youth talent, capital matching, and industrial implementation into the same scenario.
The exhibitions and displays will be the most direct highlight of this year's conference. The total exhibition area will exceed 100,000 square meters for the first time, with over 1,100 enterprises expected to participate and more than 3,000 exhibits on display, including over 300 products making their global debut. The exhibits cover areas such as large models, intelligent terminals, computing infrastructure, robots, intelligent agents, AI chips, industry applications, and open-source ecosystems. As the AI industry enters a phase of intensive iteration, companies are no longer just releasing algorithm parameters and model capabilities; they are placing greater emphasis on integrating AI into real products, real devices, and real industry systems. The global debut of over 300 products means this year's conference will serve as a window for a batch of AI hardware, software platforms, industry solutions, and intelligent terminals to collectively test market response.
The conference sessions have also been designed with a higher standard. The conference will plan over 140 forums, involving 12 national ministries and commissions, 8 national key laboratories, and more than 10 international organizations, and is expected to gather over 1,400 Chinese and international guests. For the first time, the conference will launch a high-level international academic conference, "WAIC Academic," led by Turing Award winners and Chinese and foreign academicians. It has already received 284 submissions from multiple countries and regions worldwide. This setup not only allows the conference to serve as a platform for corporate releases and project showcases but also adds weight to academic exchanges, cutting-edge research, and discussions on technical roadmaps.
Shanghai's inclusion of the three major areas—Expo, Zhangjiang, and West Bund—as the conference's hosting spaces also reflects the trend of the AI industry expanding from conference centers to urban application scenarios. The Expo area is suitable for hosting large-scale conferences and comprehensive exhibitions; Zhangjiang gathers hard-tech resources such as AI, integrated circuits, and biomedicine; and the West Bund is closer to digital content, technology experiences, and urban public space applications. With the linkage of three locations and four venues, attendees can form a more complete route through exhibitions, forums, application experiences, and industry matchmaking, rather than just viewing product displays within a single venue.
The High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance is a key component of this year's conference. As large models, intelligent agents, automation tools, and embodied intelligence accelerate their integration into industrial systems, AI governance is no longer just an ethical discussion. It also involves standards, data security, model evaluation, cross-border collaboration, algorithm transparency, responsibility boundaries, and industry rules. By placing global governance topics and product displays within the same timeframe, the conference facilitates discussions on the alignment between AI development speed and governance rules among technology companies, research institutions, regulatory bodies, and international organizations on the same platform.
This year's conference also features sections on innovation incubation and talent recruitment. Competition in the AI industry is not limited to leading enterprises; startups, young scientists, open-source communities, industry funds, and application scenario providers also influence the pace of technology diffusion. Through awards and competitions, capital matchmaking, talent exchanges, and application experiences, the conference extends corporate showcases from "product launches" to "seeking cooperation, validating scenarios, attracting talent, and promoting implementation."
After the opening on July 17, over 300 globally debuted products, more than 140 forums, and the linked displays across three locations and four venues will collectively present the technological density and application breadth of Shanghai's AI industry. Large models, AI agents, robots, computing infrastructure, and industry applications will make intensive appearances at the same conference, marking the AI industry's transition from competing on individual technologies to a new phase where productization, scenario application, and governance coordination advance in parallel.
