WAIC 2026: From 1 to 12, let me tell you how many tops there will be this year

The 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, with the theme of "Intelligent Partners for a Shared Future," will be held from July 17th to 20th at the Shanghai World Expo, Zhangjiang, and West Bund pavilions. Covering top academic platforms, international high-end dialogues, cutting-edge scientific research exchanges, global governance mechanisms, hierarchical industrial ecology, top enterprise roundtables, ideological and cultural forums, youth innovation competitions, national science popularization systems, international top scholar matrices, benchmark cutting-edge exhibits, and long-term online service platforms, we will comprehensively build a complete system for this year's AI event.

The first world-class AI independent academic summit in China

WAIC 2026 has launched the WAIC Academic (WAICA for short), a domestically operated international top AI academic conference that fills the gap of independent high-end AI conferences in China. The conference is chaired by Turing Award winner Yao Qizhi, with Academicians E Weinan and Zheng Qinghua jointly leading the program committee. This round of global solicitation covers more than ten countries and regions including China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Japan, France, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. After triple quality control screening, 282 high-quality participating papers have been retained; On July 18th, the on-site presentation and defense of papers will be held, and the two major awards of Best Paper and Best Student Paper will be selected on site, which are the core academic sections of this year.

Summit Dialogue between Two Top Award Winners

Exclusive in-depth discussions are limited, focusing on the underlying logic of general intelligence, which is a must-have for hardcore researchers. Guest lineup: Gilles Brausede (Turing Award winner, Professor at the University of Montreal), Yao Qizhi (Turing Award winner, Dean of the School of Artificial Intelligence at Tsinghua University/Shanghai Qizhi Research Institute). Two top scholars engaged in a cross ocean academic exchange around the underlying mathematics of general intelligence, long-term cultivation of global AI talents, and breakthroughs in basic theories, delving into the core thinking of AI at the foundational level.

Exploring a new paradigm of scientific research together

Hosted by Academician E Weinan, gathering three top academic experts from around the world to discuss and focus on the new track of AI reshaping basic scientific research. The guests are Gilles Brausede (Turing Award, Professor at the University of Montreal), Omar M. Yagi (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Professor at Berkeley), and Professor Qiu Xipeng from Fudan University. The three of them analyze how AI is revolutionizing traditional research models in mathematics and chemistry from three dimensions: quantum computing, molecular material development, and local large-scale models, and interpret the next generation research path of AI4S.

Global AI Governance Cross border High end Roundtable

Gather international authoritative representatives from four major categories to establish a normalized governance dialogue section, focusing on common challenges in the global development of AI. The attending representatives include academician of the German National Academy of Sciences, Armin Grunwald, senior advisor of the United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies, Lu Zilong (Turkmenistan), representative of the United Nations Environment Programme, Golestan (Sally) Radwan (Egypt), and South Korean parliamentary politician, Che Zhihao. Exchange solutions among countries around AI ethics, digital trust, sustainable development, and the intelligence divide, balance the development demands of developed and developing countries, and build a global communication channel for AI co governance.

Covering practitioners from all walks of life

5 differentiated official ecological sub brands, accurately matching different identity groups, and each type of practitioner can find the same frequency communication circle:

1. Intellectual ecology: aimed at academicians, philosophers, and global top-level thinkers;

2. Youth Innovation Ecology: Targeting teenagers, academic researchers, and young creators;

3. Venture capital ecosystem: aimed at VC and Sci Tech founders;

4. Link Ecology: Targeting government, enterprises, and practitioners across the entire industry chain;

5. Overseas Ecology: Targeting overseas enterprises and industry practitioners.

World Model Founder Exclusive Roundtable

The founders of six top world model companies in the industry gather: Tao Dacheng (Da Xiao)RobotFounder), Shen Yujun (Chief Scientist of Ant Lingbo), Zhu Zheng (President of Excellent Vision), Xia Zhongpu (CTO of Boundless Power), Ren Guanghui (CTO of Zhiyuan Robot Technology), Wang Hao (CTO of Independent Variable Robot). Facing the bottleneck of industrial landing, sharing frontline R&D and practical experience, providing industry reference for the physical AI industry.

The First Principles of AI Thinker Forum

7 industry benchmarks: Yao Qizhi, Richard Sutton, Zhu Songchun, Yu Yong, Li Kaifu, Guo Yike, Jiang Changjian. Big names set aside short-term trends and delve deeper into the underlying logic of AI civilization.

8 OPC Champion Teams Debut on Site

The OPC Independent Pioneer Challenge covers 8 major competition areas across the country: Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Wuhan, Xi'an, Hong Kong, and Nantong. From over 600 individual/micro team projects, 8 regional champions were selected and showcased in the final roadshow at the main venue. The competition focuses on the OPC "one person company" entrepreneurial model, with originality, open source, and individuality as the core, lowering the threshold for AI entrepreneurship. Eight winning projects cover multiple tracks such as healthcare, education, digital life, office intelligence, and industrial tools, fully demonstrating the new paradigm of ordinary people relying on AI to achieve lightweight entrepreneurship. Young independent developers and individual entrepreneurs are particularly concerned.

Citizens can explore AI with zero barriers to entry

Create 9 WAIC City Walk immersive check-in routes, connecting more than 30 science museums, smart business districts, and science and technology innovation parks in Shanghai's 16 districts. Weakening obscure professional technical explanations throughout the entire process, focusing on a life oriented AI interactive experience, paired with an online check-in mini program, no need to limit the exhibition hall, ordinary people, parents, and students can easily experience the daily application of AI.

Core exhibits of the town hall

The core technology exhibition section of the exhibition has launched ten heavyweight benchmark products, covering domestic computing power, humanoid robots, industry intelligent agents, end side native AI terminals, biological research and development platforms, and other tracks, representing the current cutting-edge achievements in the industry:

Zhongke Shuguang: Shuguang 8000 ScaleX 100000 Card National AI Super Fusion Cluster

Ant Group: A Robot Intelligent Pharmacy Based on Ant Lingbo Cross Ontology Embodied Large Model

Zhiyuan: Expedition A3 Ultra

Baidu: Baidu Tuzi

IFlytek: iFlytek AI Glasses

China Southern Power Grid: "Big Watt Cloud Rui" Distribution Network Planning Intelligent Agent

Shanghai Step Leap Star Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.: STEPX Neo

Alibaba Group: Zhenwu M890 × Panjiu AL128 Super Node

Tianwu Technology: MatwingsVenus ™ (Xiaowu) ™)： Dialogue based protein design intelligent agent

ZTE Corporation: ZTE OEX Super Node

Celebrity Matrix

Turing Award winner:

John Edward Hopcroft: 1986 Turing Award winner, computer professor at Cornell University, and master of theoretical computing

Manuel Blum: 1995 Turing Award winner, pioneer of computational complexity theory, and retired professor at Carnegie Mellon University

David Patterson: 2017 Turing Award winner, co-founder of RISC architecture, Google Distinguished Engineer, Emeritus Professor at Berkeley, California

Yoshua Bengio: 2019 Turing Award winner, one of the Big Three in deep learning, and professor at the University of Montreal

Andrew Chi Chi Yao: 2000 Turing Award winner, Dean of the School of Artificial Intelligence at Tsinghua University, Dean of the Institute of Interdisciplinary Information at Tsinghua University, and Dean of the Shanghai Chi Chi Research Institute

Richard S. Sutton: Turing Award winner of 2024, father of reinforcement learning, professor of computer science at the University of Alberta, and former distinguished scientist at DeepMind

Gilles Brassard: Turing Award winner of 2025, founder of quantum information science, and professor of computer science at the University of Montreal

Nobel laureates:

Thomas J. Sargent: Nobel laureate in economics in 2011, pioneer of rational expectations theory, and professor of economics at New York University

Arieh Warshel: 2013 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, founder of computational biochemistry, and Chair Professor at the University of Southern California

Omar M. Yaghi: Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry in 2025, pioneer of MOF materials, and professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley

Fields Medal winner:

Efim I. Zelmanov: 1994 Fields Medal winner, top scholar in algebra, and professor at the University of California, San Diego

Long term online docking system for 12 months throughout the year

Hi WAIC official APP is the core carrier of long-term services for the conference, breaking the time limit of exhibitions under four antennas and creating a year-round online industry docking system. The platform integrates functions such as supply and demand matching, 1v1 cloud negotiation, forum replay, venture capital matching, city science popularization appointment, and industry community. After the offline conference, it will continue to open up resource docking, project roadshows, and expert connection channels throughout the year, building a long-term industrial service mechanism of "four antenna offline event, continuous chain connection throughout the year".

On July 17th, WAIC 2026 officially kicked off, building a comprehensive operational system for the conference from academic foundations, international dialogue, industry landing, youth innovation, popular science popularization, and long-term services, forming a complete AI exchange ecosystem covering top scholars, industry practitioners, young entrepreneurs, and ordinary citizens.

Come to Shanghai and foresee the future together.

Original title: See you tomorrow | WAIC 2026: From 1 to 12, I'll tell you how many tops there will be this year