Digital China Summit: AI and 5.5G innovations captivate global audience

The 7th Digital China Summit (DCS) kicked off in Fuzhou City of southeast China's Fujian Province, on Friday. Marking a first, the event boasts an accessible 5.5G network with over 100 interactive experiences, including a UHD naked-eye 3D screen, humanoid robots, and AI robot baristas, promising to captivate a global audience.

This year's summit, the first after the optimization and adjustment of China's national data work system, focuses on "unlocking the value of data and developing new quality productivity." 

Sprawling a 56,000-square-meter live experience area, the summit features a central forum alongside over 10 breakout sessions, showcasing the latest advancements in the construction of digital China. The Digital China Development Report (2023) will be unveiled.

The summit's media center opened on Thursday. As of Thursday, over 50,000 attendees had registered, with more than 11,000 signed up for the various forums. The on-site experience area boasts over 350 participating units.

Guo Yefeng, a staff member of the 7th DCS told China Media Group (CMG) that there are more immersive application scenarios this year, as people are concerned about AI-applied real scenarios to our daily life.

The summit organization committee has also set up 45 experience spots for digital application scenarios across Fuzhou. In this case, people in the city can see and feel the latest achievements of a smart city.

According to Yuan Qi, a staff member at Fuzhou's digital experience zone, the venue allows visitors to explore a wide range of AI applications and services. "Need directions to the Digital China Summit?" Yuan explains, "Simply ask the AI assistant! It will provide you with specific bus and subway routes, and even generate the QR codes for convenient one-click access to public transportation options."

National digital development

China's digital transformation, outlined in its national digital development plan launched last year, is crucial for advancing modernization in the digital age. This initiative will provide a strong foundation for the country to build new competitive advantages. 

According to the plan, which was jointly released by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, important progress will be made in the construction of a digital China by 2025, with effective interconnectivity in digital infrastructure, a significantly improved digital economy, and major breakthroughs achieved in digital technology innovation.

By 2035, the country will be at the global forefront of digital development, and its digital progress in the economic, political, cultural, social and ecological fields will be more coordinated and sufficient. The plan includes support for the in-depth integration of digital technology and the real economy and the application of digital technology in the agriculture, manufacturing, finance, education, medical services, transportation and energy sectors.

By 2027, the country expects to see significant progress in the digital transformation of urban areas, and to have built a number of livable, resilient and smart cities, as the country released on Tuesday a guideline on promoting the development of smart cities and urban digital transformation to make urban management smarter.

China also launched its national supercomputing network last month, aiming to alleviate the imbalance between computing power supply and demand, and provide support for the development of the digital economy. It will use AI as an opportunity to drive collaborative innovation across hardware, algorithms, applications and systems in the computing field, said Qian Depei, who is a computer scientist and an academic at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and leads the platform's expert panel.

Transforming global tech sector

China's digital development tried to stay at the forefront of the latest technologies, and this effort helped fuel innovation cycles, said Julian Birkinshaw, vice dean of London Business School (LBS).

"Certain sectors are being dramatically transformed by Chinese influence, and first of them is the technology sector," said Julian Birkinshaw, adding that "China is now undeniably the world leader in electric vehicles and is rapidly growing in battery manufacturing," alongside Guo Wei, chairman of Digital China.

Guo said that while firms traditionally valued assets like money, land, capital and people, data has now become a crucial tool for empowering companies and creating customer value, offering a new source of competitive advantage. He added that "China's progress in the digital sector has not only provided schools with teaching materials but also offered a developmental path for countries around the world."

Professor Julian Birkinshaw highlighted the advanced capabilities of Chinese firms in AI. These companies, Birkinshaw noted, excel not only in developing AI but also in seamlessly integrating it into their products and services. This provides a valuable learning opportunity for students, as "the United Kingdom has very few globally renowned digital technology companies," Birkinshaw said. "Showcasing China's drive for innovation in a case study is absolutely necessary" to reflect the current digital landscape, adding that Digital China's case has been included in their library.