WAIC 2026 × 36Kr "Kr's Future Talk Live Room": Bringing AI to the Front Lines
From July 17th to 20th,
See you at Hall H3, 2nd Floor, Shanghai Pudong World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center!
As large models move past the era of technological fervor, AI is facing its most crucial industrial test - transitioning from the laboratory to the production line, and from "replacing humans" to "empowering industries."
As the annual global benchmark in the field of artificial intelligence, the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and the High - level Conference on Global Governance of Artificial Intelligence (WAIC 2026) will be grandly held at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center from July 17th to 20th. This year, 36Kr will participate deeply as an ecological partner and special supporting media of the conference. At the exhibition site, we will jointly create the "Taking AI to the Frontline" - 36Kr Future Talk Live Studio.
This year's conference is themed "Intelligent Partners, Co - creating the Future." WAIC 2026 is the largest in history: the total exhibition area exceeds 100,000 square meters, with over 1,100 enterprises participating, showcasing more than 3,000 cutting - edge technological achievements, among which over 300 AI products will make their global debut. The conference has planned more than 140 forums, gathering 1,400 domestic and international industry guests. It also launches for the first time the world - class AI academic conference WAICAcademic led by China, with Turing Award winner Yao Qizhi as the conference chairman. After eight years of development, WAIC has become the highest - level international event in the field of artificial intelligence in China, officially hosted by the state on the multilateral occasion of the United Nations.
An "Extension of Potential Energy" in Industrial Supply and Demand
In May this year, 36Kr held the AI Partner "AI + Industry" Thousand - Person Conference, focusing on the in - depth integration of AI technology and real - world industrial scenarios. The concurrent AI + Industry Matching Meeting had over 100 rounds of in - depth closed - door matching in two days, helping enterprises quickly find potential cooperation directions during the exchanges and gain more than expected inspiration and high - quality industrial resources.
This conference reflects that the industrial circle's focus on AI is gradually shifting from technological cognition and concept verification to more specific scenario adaptation, business closure, and large - scale implementation. As an important global event in the field of artificial intelligence, WAIC will further provide a larger dialogue space and display platform for in - depth discussions on AI industrialization. Against this industrial background, 36Kr will continue the topic of "Taking AI to the Frontline" to WAIC 2026. Around the key issues in AI application implementation, we will conduct case sharing and discussions in the form of round - table dialogues in the live studio, deeply dissecting those high - quality cases that are rooted in the front - line of industries and promoting AI implementation.
Let AI Return to the "Empowering Field"
Focus on Extreme Scenarios and Real Industrial Problems
36Kr believes that the greater value of AI lies in entering fields with low manual efficiency, high safety risks, or those difficult for humans to directly intervene in. In the real industrial environment, this value is more reflected in complex, delicate, and highly specialized tasks, including equipment operation monitoring under extreme working conditions, operation guarantee in complex working environments such as mines and the deep sea, identification of minor abnormal noises in precision manufacturing processes like car seat slides, and stability control in high - precision industrial processes such as wafer handling and decision - making optimization in high - complexity production and supply chain links.
In these scenarios, the role of AI is not just a simple replacement for efficiency, but also the improvement and strengthening of the existing production system. This year's "36Kr Future Talk" live studio will focus on extending the industry discussion from technology demonstration to practical implementation and experience exchange, enabling AI to move from the exhibition hall to workshops, mines, farmhouses, and laboratories.
At the WAIC site,
Related content will be presented from multiple dimensions
Case Exhibition: Visible Industrial Integration
On the external screen of the WAIC live studio, 36Kr will centrally display the real implementation cases of "AI + Industry" in the past six months, presenting the real progress of the integration of technology and industry. These cases are from the 2026 AI Best Scenario Penetration Case Selection, with 55 benchmark cases selected from nearly 200 application projects, covering key fields such as manufacturing, healthcare, finance, and agriculture, and centrally presenting the actual application paths of AI in different industries.
Each case is presented with the core structure of "pain points - solutions - effects - organizational changes," focusing on real industrial problems: including specific challenges in efficiency and cost in traditional industries, how AI technology can be applied to production lines to form solutions, the value changes and impacts brought about in actual applications, and the adjustments to organizational collaboration methods after technology implementation. In this way, technology and scenarios are connected through more intuitive information, enabling the industrial end to more clearly understand the real path of AI implementation.
Case Live - streaming and Exhibition Tour in Parallel
Dissect the Practical Process of Cases, and the Chief Editor Will Take You on a Virtual Exhibition Tour
For three consecutive days, the "36Kr Future Talk Live Studio" will conduct high - frequency dialogues around real problems in the front - line of industries, in the form of a combination of "scenario providers (enterprise production and technology leaders) + AI technology providers and industry experts" for in - depth exchanges closer to actual applications. Most of the participants in the discussions are practitioners deeply rooted in the front - line of industries. The topics focus on problem dissection and experience sharing in specific scenarios, rather than the extension of abstract concepts.
The track directions cover: AI + Smart Supply Chain, AI + Intelligent Vehicle Driving (from intelligent driving to intelligent dispatching), AI + Traditional Manufacturing, AI + Smart Agriculture, AI + Medicine/Healthcare, AI + Education, and are further extended to fields such as AI + Culture and Tourism, Smart Factories, Entertainment, Smart Hardware, and Energy.
At the same time, the 36Kr chief editor observation team will also go deep into the exhibition site for panoramic observation, presenting the real experience of cutting - edge technologies and super terminals through live - streaming exhibition tours, and leading online audiences to discover new technologies and new species in the exhibition area.
Enterprise List: Finding Hard - core Benchmarks across Cycles
Under the dual feedback of capital and the market, the structural differentiation in the AI industry is gradually emerging. Against this background, 36Kr officially launched the targeted collection and selection of the "Most Investor - Attractive Artificial Intelligence/Embodied Intelligence Projects in 2026" in April this year.
The selection will be based on the core judgment logic of investment institutions, systematically observing and screening potential benchmark enterprises from multiple dimensions such as technological capabilities, scenario implementation, commercial progress, and sustainable growth. The collection scope covers key directions such as large models and multi - modal models, AI Infra, computing power and data toolchains, embodied intelligence and robots, autonomous driving, and AI + industry applications, with a focus on AI enterprises that have actual implementation capabilities and continuous commercial verification.
The project collection channel is now open, and the registration entrance is also available. We welcome more teams that are continuously promoting technology implementation in real industries to participate and enter this round of industrial screening vision together.
From July 17th to 20th, the "Taking AI to the Frontline" 36Kr Future Talk Live Studio will be officially opened at Hall H3, 2nd Floor, Shanghai Pudong World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center. This is not only a concentrated presentation of phased industrial achievements but also a field for on - site observation and exchange around the real implementation ability of AI. See you at the site!
