Pudong to host annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference in July

The 2021 World Artificial Intelligence Conference will kick off in Pudong New Area, Shanghai on July 8 and will run for three days.

The 2021 WAIC will be held in both online and offline venues. The offline exhibition will be launched at the Shanghai World Expo Center on July 7.

With the theme of "Intelligently Connect the World", this year's event will include an opening ceremony, two plenary meetings, 11 theme forums, and several sub-forums focusing on different topics.

The offline exhibition will cover 40,000 square meters, doubling the previous year's space, to showcase the latest indusial directions, the most comprehensive industry ecosystem, as well as the best application experience for visitors. Its online version will also be upgraded.

More than 300 enterprises will display their cutting-edge products and technologies at the offline exhibition, among which 40 percent will participate in the event for the first time, while 50 percent will come from outside of Shanghai, including those from foreign countries. Highlights of the exhibition will include SenseTime's first autonomous-driving bus blending AI with augmented reality technology.

Various competitions and awards ceremonies will be held during the event, including the "SAIL Award", the Youth Artificial Intelligence Competition, as well as the Youth Outstanding Paper Selection.

The three-day event will see the attendance of about 1,000 industry luminaries, including Turing Award winners Joseph Sifakis and Andrew Chi-Chih Yao, as well as academicians and top business executives.

Most of the themed forums of the event will be broadcast online, according to officials.