World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC)

What it is

The World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) is an annual conference on artificial intelligence held in Shanghai, and it has taken place every year since its first edition in 2018 ^[1]. It is co-hosted by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the China Association for Science and Technology, and the Shanghai municipal people's government ^[1]. Its stated aim is to promote the gathering and exchange of global AI innovation ideas, technology, applications, talents and capital ^[1].

That host list is unusually broad for a technology event: it mixes economic and science ministries, the national academies, the science association and a city government. As a result the conference is not only a venue for technical talks but also a place where public bodies and companies appear in the same programme.

First edition

The first conference was held on September 17–19, 2018, in Shanghai, under the theme "A New Era Empowered by Artificial Intelligence" ^[2]. At the opening, President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter, and Vice Premier Liu He attended and spoke ^[2]. Nearly 40 countries and regions were represented, and more than 200 leading AI companies took part in the forums and exhibitions ^[2].

From the outset, then, the event was organised around two parallel tracks that have stayed with it: a forum programme with invited speakers, and an exhibition where companies show their systems. The presence of participants from dozens of countries and regions made it an international meeting rather than a purely domestic one.

Scale and programme

The 2021 edition was held on July 8–10, 2021, with 108 forums and 1,261 speakers ^[1]. Between 2020 and 2021, a total of 155 projects were signed at the conference, with total investment of 110.7 billion yuan ^[1]. According to the conference website, WAIC has gathered more than 8,100 top scientists, experts, entrepreneurs, investors and industry leaders from over 100 countries and regions ^[3]. The 2026 edition ran July 17–20 in Shanghai ^[3].

Those numbers describe three different kinds of activity that the conference bundles together. The forums are the talking part: researchers and company leaders give talks, and in 2021 the programme ran to 108 separate sessions with more than 1,200 speakers ^[1]. The exhibition is the showing part, where AI companies display products and systems to visitors ^[2]. The signing of projects is the commercial part: 155 projects across 2020 and 2021, worth 110.7 billion yuan in total ^[1].

Where it sits in the field

Artificial intelligence is a field where research results, commercial products and government policy move together, and WAIC is built to put all three in one place in one week each year. The presence of central ministries and agencies among the hosts, and the fact that the opening of the first edition included a congratulatory letter from the president and a speech by a vice premier, show that the conference carries weight beyond the industry itself ^[1][2]. For companies, it is a scheduled moment to announce and exhibit; for researchers, a forum to present work and meet counterparts; for investors, a place where projects are signed ^[1][2].

Because the conference has been held every year since 2018, its successive editions also serve as a rough record of how the field has grown: from nearly 40 countries and regions and more than 200 companies at the first edition, to a website claim of participants from over 100 countries and regions and more than 8,100 scientists, experts, entrepreneurs, investors and industry leaders in total ^[2][3]. It is worth noting that the largest figures come from the organiser's own website rather than from independent counts ^[3].

For readers outside China, WAIC is one of the clearest places to see how the country's AI sector presents itself: the same event hosts academic sessions, corporate exhibitions and municipal and ministerial involvement, with Shanghai as the permanent location ^[1][3].