2026 WIC Wuzhen Summit opens with focus on open-source AI

China

2026 WIC Wuzhen Summit opens with focus on open-source AI

2026-11-03 11:18 Last Updated At：17:12

The 2026 World Internet Conference (WIC) Wuzhen Summit opened Tuesday in Wuzhen, east China's Zhejiang Province, with open-source artificial intelligence (AI) at the center of its agenda.

Under the theme of open source, inclusiveness, joint contribution and shared benefits in building a community with a shared future in cyberspace, the summit brings together government representatives, international organizations, companies and academics from around the world for discussions on innovation, development, security governance, cultural exchanges and international cooperation.

Beyond the opening ceremony, the main forum will host an AI-themed dialogue, bringing together heads of leading sci-tech companies, developers of open-source large models and AI scientists to discuss building a global open-source AI ecosystem.

The summit also features 27 sub-forums covering cyberspace cooperation under the Global Governance Initiative, theory and policy in the digital and intelligent era, robotics and embodied AI.

Wang Jian, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said the summit is important to China's, and the world's AI development.

"I believe the WIC will play an important role in China's AI development, just as it did in the past, and I think it will go beyond what it meant before. Why? Because the pursuit of open source and openness is a global endeavor, I think the Wuzhen [Summit] will take this opportunity to make its epochal contribution to the global AI development on behalf of China," Wang said.

The WIC Awards for Pioneering Science and Technology were presented Monday, with strong international participation. A total of 20 projects received awards, selected from more than 430 submissions from 43 countries and regions, 18 of them first-time applicants. International submissions rose 21 percent year on year.

The selection of outstanding cases of jointly building a community with a shared future in cyberspace received 360 submissions from 80 countries and regions, including 22 participating for the first time, with 11 cases selected.

John Hoffman, executive chairman and director of the Global System for Mobile Communications Association, described the summit as a platform for sharing information and discussing how to build a global, shared and open internet.

"I think the Wuzhen Summit -- one of the highlights of this is that opportunity to spread information, to gather intelligence, and talk about the issues that lead to a global shared and open internet. And I think that's one of the key themes obviously of this year's event, but also, historically, has always been to leave no one behind, and create an opportunity for those around the world well into the future," he said.

The summit was first held in 2014, and the WIC became an international organization headquartered in Beijing in 2022.

China to cultivate innovative, dynamic data enterprises during 15th Five-Year Plan period

China will deepen the development and utilization of data resources and cultivate a group of innovative and dynamic data enterprises during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), an official from the National Data Administration said.

Speaking at a press conference held by the National Development and Reform Commission on Tuesday, Luan Jie, director of the Department of Policy and Planning at the National Data Administration, outlined the plan for developing the data industry over the five-year period. The newly established National Data Group will play a major role, she said.

"We will study and issue relevant policies and documents on the responsibility system for developing and utilizing public data resources, and explore establishing a revenue distribution mechanism for authorized public data operations. We will thoroughly implement the initiative to improve data efficiency at state-owned enterprises, especially by giving play to the National Data Group in data resource development and utilization, and cultivate a group of innovative and dynamic data enterprises," Luan said.

Data quality will also be a priority, the official said.

"We will strengthen the building of high-quality datasets, deepen pilot work on data annotation, build an industry expert network for annotation, and establish a special mechanism for cross-regional coordination to better empower the development of artificial intelligence," she added.