What to expect from the 10th World Internet Conference

The 10th World Internet Conference (WIC) Wuzhen Summit will commence on Wednesday in the ancient river town of Wuzhen, Tongxiang in east China's Zhejiang Province.

Providing platforms, gathering internet talents, and building bridges for companies, scholars and institutions over the past ten years, the internet-themed event has become an important engine in promoting the innovation and development of global internet and digital technologies.

"The conjunction of the growth of importance of the internet and the vacuum for a forum to discuss how to establish norms really makes for a bright future for the WIC, said Francis Gurry, vice-chairman at the WIC, adding that he hopes it will become a global forum.

Gathering global achievements and building a platform for communication

The selection and release of the world's leading scientific and technological achievements in the internet sector is one of the major activities at the event and has been held for seven consecutive years.

In 2022, the event received 257 applications from China, the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, Sweden and other countries and regions, covering topics related to 5G and 6G, artificial intelligence, big data, cybersecurity and supercomputing.

Another important part of the summit, an exposition titled the Light of Internet Expo, has attracted numerous enterprises and visitors in the past nine years. 

The WIC also promotes cooperation in the digital economy, with several digital economy projects and contracts signed at the conference every year.

Additionally, the Global Internet Competition, an international event that focuses on the digital economy, has attracted 4,455 projects from 34 countries and regions, and three companies among the winning projects have gone public. 

The year 2022 also saw the debut of an online display, with nearly 300 companies showcasing their technological products on the "cloud."

'An international internet town'

The ancient town has made itself into a vibrant "internet town" after a decade's effort, and it is now striving to become an "international internet town" that covers various internet-related clusters and has dedicated an area of 110 square kilometers for this endeavor.

The endeavor has been fruitful. The number of digital economy companies in the town has increased from 12 in 2014 to over 1,000, focusing on the biomedical industry, 6G networks, substrates for fabricating flexible optoelectronic devices and the intelligent automotive industry, according to the head of the Publicity Department of Tongxiang.

The 2021 WIC has seen the completion of a local supercomputing center, which now has 12,000 customers from key laboratories, scientific research institutes, universities and enterprises across the country.

Highlights of the 2023 WIC

Themed "Creating an Inclusive and Resilient Digital World Beneficial to All – Building a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace," the 2023 event will feature 20 sub-forums on topics such as digital cooperation under the Global Development Initiative, the coordinated transformation toward digitalization and green growth, data governance, computing network and artificial intelligence.

The event will also launch new activities this year to mark its 10th anniversary, such as the awarding of honorary titles and the inauguration of a global youth leadership program.

Internet-themed museum launched during WIC

A large internet-themed museum showcasing the development of the internet and achievements and applications of internet technologies will also debut during this year's event.

This year's internet competition, another highly anticipated event, will highlight cutting-edge technology trends and focus on AI, digital medicine, connected vehicles, the industrial internet, intelligent sensing and the digital ocean and aerospace, aiming to leverage its important role in the digital age.

A research report on developing responsible generative AI will also be released during the event.