With the theme of "Intelligent connectivity, infinite multiverse", the World Artificial Intelligence Conference 2022 (WAIC 2022) was successfully concluded on September 3rd. At the closing ceremony of WAIC 2022, Zhang Wei, Member of the Standing Committee of CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and Vice Mayor of Shanghai Municipal Government, declared the Conference closed. Hang Yingwei, Deputy Secretary-general of Shanghai Municipal Government, Deputy Secretary of CPC Pudong New Area Committee and Head of Pudong New Area Government, and Zhuang Mudi, Deputy Secretary-general of Shanghai Municipal Government, attended the closing ceremony. Wu Jincheng, Chairman of S Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, summarized the results of the Conference.
At the closing ceremony, the launch ceremony of "Walk hand in hand to build a new platform for metaverse" was held. Key projects such as Kuaishou Shanghai R&D Center, Huanshen Technology VR Intelligent R&D Center and Qsdata Intelligence Metaverse Research Institute will focus on the construction of metaverse platforms and accelerate industrial innovation. 25 representative industrial projects of artificial intelligence in Shanghai were signed, among which 8 projects were signed on site and 17 were signed in the metaverse venue, with a total investment of nearly RMB15 billion. In the launch ceremony of “Financial ecosystem fostering new tracks", the fundraising of RMB1 billion new track sub-funds was started, and RMB10 billion credit innovation support tools were released, which will drive the new track industries to grow and thrive.
This year's WAIC included one opening ceremony, two plenary meetings and one closing ceremony, with a total of 121 activities with a matrix of five sections, covering meetings, exhibitions, competitions, applications and talents. Many areas on both sides of Huangpu River cooperated, while a number of organizations resonated at home and abroad at the same frequency. The forums covered four major sectors, namely technological innovation, industrial application, rule of law ethics and ecological construction, involving more than 30 specialized directions, including AI+ metaverse, generative AI, trusted AI, brain-computer interface and other current hot topics of artificial intelligence in the world. The Conference brought together more than 500 renowned guests such as leading scholars of artificial intelligence at home and abroad, well-known business leaders and representatives of international organizations, including 4 Turing Prize winners, 1 Nobel laureate, 1 Fields Prize winner and 1 Marr Prize winner, more than 80 academicians at home and abroad, more than 20 top university presidents, and leaders of major technology enterprises such as Baidu, Huawei, Qualcomm and Meta, who passionately discussed industrial innovation trends.
As of 2PM on September 3rd, the WAIC metaverse witnessed 370,000 visits. More than 700 radio, television and online media broadcasted the grand occasion of the conference, including over 2,000 Internet and We media. The total number of online viewers exceeded 638 million, boasting "thousands of websites, tens of thousands of visitors and 100 million viewers".
