Beijing hosts conference on AI innovation

The Chinese capital of Beijing held the third Artificial Intelligence (AI) Industry Innovation and Development Conference on Friday, a major gathering focused on leveraging AI to drive transformation across multiple sectors.

The event, themed Accelerating Industry Empowerment through Breakthrough Innovations, attracted over 5,000 AI industry experts, scholars, and business representatives and highlighted the potential of AI to revolutionize fields such as education, healthcare, and finance.

The conference featured a comprehensive agenda, including a main forum and nine specialized sub-forums. These smaller forums delved into specific AI applications, ranging from education and transportation to finance, healthcare, and cultural tourism.

The discussions aimed to foster collaboration across the industry ecosystem, bringing together companies, government agencies, and experts to explore how AI can address real-world challenges and opportunities.

"Our main focus is on vertical industries, such as AI plus transportation, education plus AI, AI plus healthcare, and AI plus finance, to address the 'last kilometer' challenge in industry application," said Tan Lili, director of the Management Committee of Zhongguancun Mentougou Science and Technology Park, who is also one of the conference attendees.

A key highlight was the launch of an optimization workshop, a new initiative designed to optimize AI models and explore their practical applications. This project will focus on tailoring AI solutions for sectors like education, healthcare, and finance.

So far, the project has accomplished more than 80 AI-powered solutions in such sectors as meteorology, healthcare, and finance.

The conference also showcased an exhibition featuring 56 leading AI companies, demonstrating cutting-edge applications of AI in various industries. Exhibits highlighted how AI can create new possibilities for sectors such as government services, entertainment and manufacturing.

The exhibition also emphasized the potential of AI to drive intelligent transformation and empower businesses to adapt to the digital age.

Beijing hosts conference on AI innovation

The Langqi passenger terminal in Fuzhou of east China's Fujian Province officially commenced a new departure tax refund initiative for travelers heading on the "mini three links" route on Tuesday, with streamlined measures boosting the efficiency of tax refunds and speeding up customs clearance procedures.

The "mini three links" refers to direct trade, postal and transport services launched in 2001 between Fujian Province and the Taiwan-administered Kinmen and Matsu islands. It serves as a vital, convenient cross-strait passage for personnel exchanges and economic and trade interactions between the Chinese mainland and the Taiwan region.

At the heart of the upgraded service is an optimized procedure dubbed the "one document, one bag, one code" process, a simple and streamlined model designed to shorten clearance time for outbound passengers.

Under this framework, travelers who make purchases at designated pilot tax refund stores can have their qualified goods consolidated into a single sealed bag, with all corresponding tax refund information integrated into a unique QR code printed on the tax refund application form.

When departing via the Langqi passenger terminal, on-site customs officers only need to scan the QR code to retrieve and verify the details relating to the applicant's tax refund application. Travelers can then get quick customs clearance once the information is confirmed to be accurate, with no requirement to open their sealed shopping bags for repeated inspections.

Departure tax refund services launched at "mini three links" port in Fuzhou