The ongoing Zhongguancun Forum held its Artificial Intelligence (AI) theme day in Beijing on Saturday, with participants discussing AI technology innovation and prospect of AI industrial application at multiple parallel sessions.
Themed "Innovating for a Better World," the five-day forum that will conclude on Monday focuses on cutting-edge fields from AI to life sciences and new materials.
As the driving force leading a new wave of industrial transformation, artificial intelligence has become a highly discussed topic at this year's Zhongguancun Forum. Several parallel sessions were held on the theme day, covering hot topics such as large-scale AI models, artificial general intelligence and embodied AI.
"Artificial intelligence is a tool that can empower various industries. We hope to generate more innovative opportunities through in-depth communication with our peers and professionals from related industries via this platform," said Jin Yongcheng, head of an AI start-up.
As part of the annual meeting, a three-day in-tech carnival targeting ordinary residents, especially teenagers, is taking place at a science park of Zhongguancun. At the event, visitors can interact with varieties of intelligent robots, experience projects such as 3D-food printing, VR (Virtual Reality) flight simulation, brainwave storms, and truly feel the conveniences and pleasures that AI brings to work and life.
"In the past, these things seemed out of reach, but now we're discovering that they are gradually becoming accessible to us. Many of these things are within our grasp. The era of technology has arrived," said Zhang Ben, a visitor.
Zhongguancun Forum has attracted participants from over 100 countries and regions, with more than half of its speakers coming from abroad, highlighting China's commitment to opening up and innovation cooperation.
Located in northwestern Beijing, Zhongguancun houses more than 17,000 national high-tech enterprises. It is China's first national high-tech industrial development zone and is known as "China's Silicon Valley."
Theme day of Zhongguancun Forum focus on AI technology
Multiple cities across China, including Beijing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, and Shenyang, have eased restrictions on home purchases and loan extensions to revitalize the real estate market, which is expected to improve market expectations as the newly adopted incentive measures take effect.
Beijing recently released its 2024 Housing Development Annual Plan, which provides for the allocation of 1,060 hectares of land for residential purposes, maintaining stable land supply. This includes plans to supply approximately 6 million square meters of commercial housing and to build 70,000 units of affordable rental housing, along with delivering 80,000 units of various affordable housing.
Since late April, multiple cities in southern province of Guangdong have rolled out new real estate policies to shore up the market.
Guangzhou's Huadu District launched a one-year "trade-in" promotion for commercial housing starting on Wednesday, offering multiple discount incentives and allowing participants to unconditionally refund deposits within a certain period.
"The 25 participating companies are mostly large centrally-administered enterprises, state-owned enterprises, or major real estate companies. Their housing units primarily focus on meeting essential needs or providing improvements to current living conditions," said Huang Feifei, secretary general of the Guangzhou Huadu District Real Estate Industry Association.
On Monday, Foshan, a city adjacent to Guangzhou, issued a notice involving 13 measures to incentivize the real estate market.
The measures include supporting the "trade-in" of housing, increasing support for provident fund loans to purchase homes, and implementing a dynamic adjustment mechanism for first-time home loan interest rates. Non-local residents with legal ownership of residential properties in Foshan can apply for household registration, with their spouses and minor children allowed to gain the permanent residential status.
Earlier this month, Hangzhou City in east China's Zhejiang Province announced the easing of home purchase restrictions, including the removal of the housing lottery system and purchase qualifications for commercial housing.
Non-local residents who acquire legal property rights in Hangzhou are now eligible to apply for the permanent residential status.
In northeast China's Liaoning Province, the provincial capital city of Shenyang has announced measures to ease restrictions on application for the permanent residential status, in efforts to attract more people to settle in the city.
These measures include removing the quota limit for points-based household registration, expanding the scope of academic-based applicants, and relaxing criteria for property-based relocation and collective household registrations.
A report recently released by the People's Bank of China -- China's central bank -- suggested a comprehensive study on disposing of existing real estate inventories and modifying new housing policies.
The report advocates city-specific policies and precise implementation of differentiated housing credit policies to better support home purchases for essential needs and improvements, meet the reasonable financing needs of real estate enterprises, and promote stable and healthy development of the real estate market.
Chinese cities modify real estate policies to boost market confidence
