Above the Deep Water, Resonate for New Vitality | 2026 Industrial Future Conference is Officially Announced
On one side, 12 trillion yuan of funds are entering the exit period and extension period, while on the other side, state-owned capital and industrial capital are accelerating their layout. On one side, AI is reshaping advanced manufacturing and new energy, while on the other side, future industries including quantum computing, commercial aerospace, brain-computer interface, and controlled nuclear fusion are receiving long-term capital bets.
Industrial investment is stepping into uncharted deep waters. The capital structure, investment mechanism and industrial direction are being rewritten simultaneously, and real opportunities will emerge from the resonance of capital, industry, technology and application scenarios. So where will the answers for the new cycle of industrial investment come from?
Industrial Investment Enters Deep Waters, Old Maps Are Failing
Over the past few years, industrial investment has undergone a profound transformation from the surface to the core.
In 2023, we tried to "discover undercurrents"; in 2024, the industry began to "confirm the surging tide"; in 2025, the market moved toward "refined and meticulous operation". By 2026, a more specific question is placed in front of all participants:
After years of refined cultivation, what have the achievements grown into? Where will the next "Light of China" that truly transcends cycles and represents the future of the industry emerge?
The answers can no longer be found with outdated old maps.
The capital structure has been rewritten first.
By the end of 2025, funds managed by state-owned capital-backed managers have accounted for over 60% of the total scale. In 2025, there were 5444 direct investment events by state-owned capital, involving a total amount of over 600 billion yuan. Data from ZERONE shows that among the contributions from institutional LPs, the proportion of state-owned capital rose from 78.9% in 2021 to 90.2% in 2025.
The role of state-owned capital is no longer limited to being a "capital contributor". Shifting from LP to GP, shifting from investment attraction via funds to direct investment attraction, shifting from pursuing single financial returns to taking policy compliance, industrial contribution and financial returns into consideration simultaneously, state-owned capital is becoming an industrial organizer and ecosystem builder.
Meanwhile, exit pressure keeps accumulating. Apart from IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, S-funds, equity transfer and share repurchase are jointly addressing the core challenge of "how to exit".
Capital will eventually flow into the real industry. AI has been deeply integrated into real scenarios such as advanced manufacturing and new energy. Low-altitude economy and commercial aerospace have gradually crossed the commercialization verification threshold. Long-term industrial propositions including brain-computer interface, quantum computing and controlled nuclear fusion are also seeing intensive layout of capital and industrial resources.
Industrial investment has already stepped into the real deep water zone.
It is no longer dominated by the judgment of a single institution, but the joint force of national will, market forces, industrial resources and technological innovation.
Answers in the New Cycle No Longer Come From Isolated Efforts
After entering the new cycle, industrial investment is no longer a single-choice question of "whether to invest or not".
With state-owned capital becoming the most important long-term capital source, how should market-oriented institutions redefine their own professional value?
With 12 trillion yuan of existing assets waiting for exit, can M&A and S-funds truly open up new channels beyond IPOs?
When large-scale hard technology financing increasingly relies on joint investment, is Club Deal a rational choice after risk diversification, or a retreat of independent judgment capability?
When AI reshapes traditional industries, and cutting-edge technologies enter the industrialization cycle spanning ten or even twenty years, how should capital place bets between "today's growth" and "future long-term development"?
No single party can answer these questions on its own.
State-owned capital needs high-quality projects and market-oriented operational capabilities, GPs need long-term capital and industrial resources, CVCs need innovation ecosystem and technological increment, and startups need application scenarios, supply chain support and regional landing resources beyond capital.
Exits require M&A synergy, large projects require joint investment, and industrial investment attraction requires cross-regional cooperation. Every party holds the missing puzzle piece that others do not have.
No one can swim across the deep water alone. Resonance is becoming the core keyword of the new cycle of industrial investment.
"Above Deep Waters, Resonance Breeds New Vitality", 2026 Industrial Future Conference Officially Launches
Against this backdrop, 36Kr plans to hold the "2026 Industrial Future Conference" themed "Above Deep Waters, Resonance Breeds New Vitality" at Tongming Lake Convention and Exhibition Center, Yizhuang, Beijing on September 9-10, 2026 for two days.
The conference will invite representatives from state-owned capital platforms, government guidance funds, LPs, market-oriented investment institutions, CVCs, leading industrial enterprises, innovative startups, experts, scholars and industrial service institutions to jointly discuss the capital landscape, investment mechanism, industrial restructuring and future layout in the new cycle of industrial investment.
Why Yizhuang? Because the Answer for Future Industries Takes Shape Right at the Industrial Site
A conference discussing the future of industries should not only imagine the future inside the venue. For a cutting-edge technology to move from the laboratory to the industry, it needs to go through a long journey of engineering, supply chain building, application scenario exploration and commercial verification. It requires technological breakthroughs, as well as capital patience, industrial synergy and the city's supporting capacity.
Beijing Yizhuang, as the only national-level economic development zone in Beijing, is a key position for the capital's real economy. The policy advantages of the "Six Zones" provide rare deep support for basic R&D, enterprise growth and industrial landing.
More importantly, future industries are taking concrete shape here.
Special policies such as the "Ten Measures for Quantum Industry" and "Twenty Measures for AI Industry" have been implemented one after another, delivering computing power, capital, talents and application scenarios to the key nodes of enterprise growth.
Cutting-edge industrial communities including Quantum Constellation and Modulo World provide innovative enterprises with supporting spaces covering R&D incubation to scenario verification.
Key enterprises such as Huayi Quantum and Liangyi Wanxiang have taken root here, with multiple quantum technology routes advancing in parallel, while AI and embodied intelligence are also accelerating their integration into manufacturing and real application scenarios.
All these point to one thing: enabling technologies to find their scenarios, enabling enterprises to get patient support, and enabling innovation to truly grow into a mature industry.
Stepping into the deep water zone, the future will no longer be born from a single isolated breakthrough, but grow from the joint force of technology, capital, industry and scenarios.
That's why the 2026 Industrial Future Conference is held in Yizhuang. We hope to move the discussions about the future to the place where the future is unfolding, bring judgments to the real industrial site, let resources connect with each other, and make the next beam of "Light of China" start from a real resonance.
Two-day Agenda to Enable Real Integration of Insights, Capital and Industries
On the first day, we will dive into deep waters to see how the future unfolds.
The conference will take the two "deep undercurrents" of quantum computing and AI as the main line: looking upward at how technologies achieve leapfrog development, and looking downward at how value forms a closed loop. Questions including how quantum computing evolves from "being able to compute" to "being useful", how AI moves from model competition to real industrial scenarios, and how computing power, capital and application scenarios connect with each other, will be discussed in the real industrial context of Yizhuang.
On the same day, the conference will also launch the "Scenario Demand Collection" for quantum technologies, and organize a visit to the Quantum Constellation Community. It will enable cutting-edge technologies to face real demands, and let the judgments about the future be tested at the real industrial site.
On the second day, we will go through cycles to seek new consensus for industrial investment.
When a "Light of China" enterprise requires ten years of growth, long-term capital support and industrial chain synergy, how should state-owned capital, LPs, market-oriented institutions and CVCs jointly support its development? When 12 trillion yuan of existing assets are waiting for exit, how can capital find a new virtuous cycle? The conference will focus on discussions about patient capital, exit mechanisms and new roles of industrial investment, and look into embodied intelligence, advanced manufacturing, new energy, semiconductor and low-altitude economy to identify the ongoing industrial variables.
Besides keynote speeches and panel discussions, the conference also sets up modules including industrial series directories, trend content release, closed-door exchanges for institutions and industrial resource matchmaking.
Here, discussion is not the end, but connection is the result.
This conference will release the 2026 Annual "Industrial Investment Industry" Series Directory Selection, which is open for application from all primary market investment institutions and front-line investors across the market. It fully covers full-dimension directories including 12-track comprehensive directories, segmented industry directories, state-owned capital directories, boutique investment bank directories, LP directories, industrial M&A directories, ESG directories, and post-investment empowerment directories, to objectively record the real power of the co-growth of industry and capital.
Come Here, Not Only to Hear Judgments, But Also to Step Into the Real Industrial Site
The real difficulty of industrial investment often lies not only in the lack of information, but in the lack of people, projects and scenarios that can verify the judgments.
To judge whether a new direction is worth long-term investment, we cannot only refer to research reports, but also check whether the technology has truly walked out of the laboratory, whether the product has entered the supply chain, whether the local industry has the supporting capacity, and whether capital is willing to accompany the enterprise through the long engineering cycle.
These answers can hardly be found in one-way information flow.
What 36Kr hopes to build through this conference is exactly a site where industrial judgments can be cross-verified.
Here, state-owned capital platforms can hear the real judgments of market-oriented institutions on project quality and exit paths, investment institutions can understand what kind of technological increments leading industrial enterprises are looking for, entrepreneurs can directly face capital, clients and regional resources, and local governments can also see what kind of scenarios, chains and ecosystem a technology exactly needs to develop from a project to a mature industry.
What we expect to happen at the site is not only insight exchange, but more specific issues being put on the table:
For a hard technology project's next round of financing, what kind of capital portfolio does it need?
What innovative capabilities that can be integrated into the business system is a leading industrial enterprise looking for?
When a local government plans to lay out future industries, what it truly lacks: projects, funds, or industrial organization capabilities?
What engineering, cost and scenario barriers are still left for a cutting-edge technology before it can achieve large-scale application?
When these issues are gathered at the same site, real and effective connections can be formed among capital, industry, technology and regional resources.
In the deep water zone, information is not scarce. What is truly scarce is the opportunity to turn judgments into actions, promote projects to land in industries, and make cooperation happen in reality.
Grow the Next Batch of "Light of China" in Resonance
At the current stage of industrial investment, what the industry needs is no longer just more capital, but more effective synergy. The real "Light of China" will not be shaped by a single force alone. It will grow from the joint force of long-term capital, industrial capabilities, technological innovation, application scenarios and market demands.
Above the deep waters, there are no isolated answers.
From September 9 to 10, at Tongming Lake Convention and Exhibition Center, Yizhuang, Beijing, the 2026 Industrial Future Conference looks forward to witnessing the formation of new consensus and enabling the emergence of new industries together with you.
Please scan the QR code below, select the corresponding directory to sign up for the selection
Exclusive consultation email for application: (Application period: from now to 18:00, August 25, 2026)
36krmediair@36kr.com
Business cooperation consultation email:
miteng@36kr.com
To register for on-site participation, please click: https://hdxu.cn/OQtH0