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At the 2025 World Internet Conference (WIC) Wuzhen Summit, Zeng Weimin, the vice president of China Telecom Cloud Technology Co Ltd, shared his pride in receiving the WIC Distinguished Contribution Award.
He emphasized that the recognition highlighted the company's role in advancing digital services across China, especially in government, healthcare and in education.
The tech company is widely said to play a key role in providing nationwide computing services, particularly in underserved areas.
Its mission is to use technology to improve lives — making essential services more accessible through innovative cloud solutions.
Zeng concluded his remarks by noting that technology, in addition to being a tool, brings warmth by bridging gaps and solving challenges in society.
At the 2025 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit, Li Auto received the WIC Distinguished Contribution Award, for recognition of its leadership in intelligent mobility and AI innovation.
Speaking on behalf of the company, Li Guanhua, senior vice-president of Li Auto, said that technology should serve people, and that intelligent vehicles are not merely means of transportation but "mobile homes" that embody safety, comfort and emotional connection.
She noted that continuous investment in AI and a robust R&D system have enabled rapid breakthroughs, while the deep integration of the internet with AI, big data and cloud computing is reshaping the way people move and live.
Li emphasized that the Award encourages the company to keep creating value for its users and society through innovation, deepening AI integration across business chain while promoting collaboration across the industry , in a bid to ensure that the fruits of innovation are shared by a broader community.
Heightened efforts should be made to foster a vibrant and dynamic digital economy through technological innovation, and strengthen exchanges and dialogue to advance the building of a secure and stable cyberspace to benefit people the world round, said officials, experts and company executives.
They made the remarks at the 2025 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit, which kicked off on Fridayin Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, with the theme: "Forging an Open, Cooperative, Secure and Inclusive Future of Digital Intelligence — Jointly Build a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace".
Addressing the event's opening ceremony, Li Shulei, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, highlighted the significance of upholding inclusive development, accelerating the construction of digital information infrastructure, and promoting the widespread adoption of digital technologies and applications.
Li called for enhancing national digital literacy, bridging the digital and intelligence divide, and enabling people worldwide to share the benefits of digital development.
He also stressed the need to give full play to the role of an internet that transcends borders and connects the world, build communication platforms, expand channels for dialogue, and promote cultural exchanges across multiple levels and fields.
Wang Hao, Party secretary of Zhejiang, said the province has accelerated steps to bolster the integration of the digital economy and the real economy and nurture new quality productive forces. Wang said the province's digital economy accounted for over 50 percent of its GDP in 2024.
This year, China entered the top 10 on the Global Innovation Index (GII) for the first time, and the achievement is supported by a digital economy that contributes around 10 percent of GDP in China, said Daren Tang, director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization.
"Today's conference will give us the opportunity for global dialogue and collaboration, which have continued and will have to continue being the foundations of an internet that connects people and ideas, spreads opportunity, and powers new forms of innovation and creativity," Tang said.
As a new wave of technological revolution and industrial transformation is rapidly evolving, artificial intelligence is spearheading the development of the digital economy and is being integrated into every facet of industrial revolution and people's lives.
Wu Yongming, CEO of Chinese tech heavyweight Alibaba Group, said the company is increasing investment in AI infrastructure and remains committed to open sourcing its large language models, empowering developers worldwide to build transformative AI applications.
Wu emphasized that technological inclusiveness is a new opportunity in the era of AI, adding that it is important to address the needs of vulnerable groups and leverage digital technologies to bridge the digital divide.
Liu Qiangdong, Chinese e-commerce giant JD's founder and chairman, said with the appearance of AI and robotics, the proportion of China's social logistics costs in GDP is expected to drop from over 14 percent to less than 10 percent within the next five years.
Liu said robots will liberate human beings from repetitive and heavy work, and technological advancements will create a large number of new types of jobs, new demand and new services.
Wuzhen's World Internet Science and Technology Museum, the world's first large scale museum dedicated to the internet, reopened Friday following a comprehensive renovation.
With more detailed exhibitions and cutting-edge interactive displays, the museum in the Zhejiang province water town provides a permanent, in-depth exploration of global internet development and innovation.
The chairman of Chinese cybersecurity firm DAS-Security has expressed the company's delight at winning the Distinguished Contribution Award at the 2025 World Internet Conference (WIC). A total of 14 enterprises were recognized for breakthroughs in global internet development and governance at the WIC summit in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province.
"We are honored and grateful," said Fan Yuan on Friday.
"Since the first WIC, our company has undertaken network security protection work. From basic defense in the early days to today's active-defense system powered by AI security intelligent agents, this award recognizes our 12 years of commitment and affirms the technical strength of China's digital security enterprises."
Fan said the recognition served as a "dual validation of continuous innovation and tangible results". He cited milestones such as the launch of China's first AI security intelligent agent, the upgrade of the company's Hengnao security large model from version 1.0 to 3.0 within the space of three years, and the development of two systems designed to enable trusted data circulation.
"Each innovation concept has been translated into outcomes that serve the real economy," he added.
According to Fan, DAS-Security intends to "strengthen our innovation resolve and deepen our sense of responsibility", continuing its AI + data dual-engine strategy. The company also plans to enhance the conference's cybersecurity protection system through an "intelligent-agent cluster and threat-intelligence hub", and to promote international cooperation in building a global digital security ecosystem.
The China Mobile Research Institute, ZTE and Pakistan Mobile Communication Ltd were among the winners in the innovation breakthrough category during Friday's ceremony.
As the 2025 World Internet Conference (WIC) Wuzhen Summit opened on Friday in the water town in Zhejiang province, five individuals and 14 enterprises were named as winners of the annual Distinguished Contribution Award. The WIC award celebrates breakthroughs in global internet development and governance.
Among this year's honorees was Qian Hualin, a pioneer of China's internet who played a key role in integrating the country into the global network system. ZTE, Tencent and Ant Group stood out as the only companies to win the award for the second year running — a sign of China's growing influence in the digital innovation arena.
Launched last year, the Distinguished Contribution Award honors individuals and organizations that have made transformative and inclusive contributions to the internet's evolution. Almost 200 applicants from around the world were considered for recognition this year, covering fields from artificial intelligence and communications to healthcare and finance.
Qian, one of the leading architects behind China's early internet infrastructure, spearheaded the development of the nation's domain name systems, both national and Chinese-language. His work, as noted in the award citation, helped make "China's digital presence ever clearer and stronger on the global stage".
Other individual awardees included Robert Kahn, co-inventor of the TCP/IP protocol and widely known as "the Father of the Internet"; Werner Zorn, Germany's own "Father of the Internet", who assisted in China's early domain setup and helped connect it to the global internet community; Jun Murai, Japan's "Father of the Internet", credited with introducing the first root server to the Asia-Pacific region; and Lacina Kone, director general and CEO of Smart Africa, recognized for driving digital transformation across the African continent.
In the enterprise category, Ant Group's Ant Misuan was recognized for its innovation in end-to-end privacy-preserving computation using encrypted data. ZTE was cited for advances in "connectivity + computing power" technologies, while Tencent was honored for weaving charitable giving into everyday life — a nod to its ongoing effort to fulfill diverse social responsibilities in the digital age.
The final round of the "Straight to Wuzhen" Global Internet Competition, a signature event of the World Internet Conference (WIC) Wuzhen Summit, is scheduled to kick off on Nov 7-8 in Wuzhen.
Now in its seventh year, the competition continues to serve as a global platform for digital innovation and cooperation, attracting 1,082 projects from 29 countries this year, with 71 qualifying for the upcoming final in Wuzhen after rounds of battle and strict selection.
The event features six key tracks including artificial intelligence, intelligent connected mobility, intelligent digital healthcare, intelligent manufacturing, smart terminal and open source projects, covering vital fields with the most growth potential, drawing participation from innovative companies such as AgiBot, WeRide and Lancet Robotics, as well as industrial giants such as China First Automobile Group, Xiaomi and Haier Group.
Open source projects, the newly-added track, includes an open source model application contest and open source competitive challenge. The open source model application contest focuses on innovative development on global open source model application in multiple fields, while the open source competitive challenge aims to build a competitive platform for developers with the final award selected based on cumulative code contributions. The two sectors are expected to speed up the iteration and realization of open source technology.
Wu Jianping, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Steve Hoffman, an angel investor, and Andy Palmer, an academician at the Royal Academy of Engineering will jointly serve as president of the event.
Furthermore, the competition will bring together enterprises and organizations from academia, industries and investment sectors, including authorities such as the Young entrepreneurs organization of the European Union and China Electronics Standardization Association, industrial giants such as Ant Group and China Association for Medical Devices Industry, as well as various investment firms such as China Internet Investment Fund, Vertex Ventures, Capital Link, Zheshang Venture Capital, Fosun Capital and Hike Capital.
The "Digital Wings" Global Ecosystem Community serves as a hub for innovative collaboration, promoting comprehensive integration across policy, market access, technology, investment, talent and industrial chains, building a comprehensive global service system across the six key sectors.
By bringing together past participating teams, the community hosts symposiums and networking events to connect entrepreneurs with industrial resources, investors and local governments. It provides a full-chain support for innovative projects from technology development to market production, aiming to cultivate global partnerships throughout the innovation cycle and development progress.
In addition, the community will roll out a series of events alongside the "Straight to Wuzhen" competition, providing all-round services and engagement opportunities for participants and stakeholders alike.
A hyper-realistic digital human technology developed by Chinese tech giant Baidu Inc won the World Internet Conference Award for Pioneering Science and Technology in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province on Thursday.
As a result, Baidu has become the only artificial intelligence company to win at the awards for three years running. Initiated by the World Internet Conference, the awards aim to recognize pioneering achievements in internet technology globally and promote international exchanges and cooperation in the internet domain.
AI foundation models are rapidly evolving from language to multimodal capabilities, with "digital humans" – 3D computer generated representations of human beings which can act like real people in virtual environments such as broadcasts – emerging as an innovative application that integrates large language models with multimodal technology.
Baidu won this year's award with a script-driven multimodal collaboration hyper-realistic digital human technology, featuring innovative techniques such as script generation integrated with multi-modal planning and deep reasoning, real-time interaction through dynamic decision-making, text-controlled speech synthesis and high-consistency ultra-realistic long video generation of digital humans.
This breakthrough technology addresses key challenges such as real-time multimodal coordination and comprehensive dynamic interactions, achieving the consistency of voice, appearance and speech, the company said.
Baidu says it aims to deliver high-quality content and more natural interaction for digital human live broadcasting, characterized by sophisticated expressiveness, strong emotional impact, free interaction among people, objects and environments, and professional descriptions.
To date, more than 100,000 digital humans have been produced using this technology, covering industries such as e-commerce, education and law. It has helped reduce the cost of starting a live-broadcast by 80 percent and increased the conversion rate by 31 percent.
This technology plays a key role in driving innovation in the live broadcasting industry and lays a solid foundation for the widespread application of digital human technology.
The year 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the concept of building a community with a shared future in cyberspace. Since its inception, this concept has consistently emphasized the close connection between global internet governance and the human community of shared future. It reflects a strong focus on the well-being of all humanity and the widespread expectations of the international community for cooperation and trust in cyberspace.
A seminar will be held during the 2025 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit to commemorate the 10th anniversary of this initiative. This seminar will summarize the great achievements and vivid practices in the past decade, reflect on the past, look toward the future, and further promote the implementation of this concept.
As the 2025 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit is around the corner, Jiaxing, the host city, has showcased a vibrant digital ecosystem, previewing the summit's ideals in action.
Themed "Forging an Open, Cooperative, Secure and Inclusive Digital Future — Building a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace", the summit will take place in Wuzhen town, Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, from Nov 6 to 9.
Jiaxing-based Jiuzhou Cultural Media Co, established in 2021, has been driving global outreach of short dramas via its platform ShortMax. Launched in 2023, the platform has covered over 200 countries and regions with more than 90 million users and 200 million downloads.
Adopting a "translation and self-production" model, the company not only produces multilingual adaptations of high-quality domestic short dramas but also customizes content for different regions.
"We will share internet-enabled content creation and global dissemination insights at the summit," said Wang Weizhi, the company's vice-president. With the development of AI technology, short dramas will reach more overseas audiences. Wang added that Jiuzhou is exploring a diversified empowerment model for short dramas.
The World Internet Science and Technology Museum, located in Wuzhen town next to the Light of the Internet Expo Center, has been upgraded for the summit. Exhibits of the action role-playing games Black Myth: Wukong and Black Myth: Zhong Kui will be displayed.
Over 130 exhibits in the internet field and interactive experiences like brain-controlled technologies and MR stations will guide visitors through the past, present, and future of the internet to witness the key technologies, landmark events, and important figures in the development of the global internet.
During the summit, a special exhibition focusing on the AI exploration and practices in Zhejiang will highlight computing power, models, chips, and applications, featuring cutting-edge technologies.
This year, the summit for the first time extends its venue to the Puyuan Fashion Resort, where the Internet Life Carnival will be held from Nov 5 to 9. Blending the ancient town's cultural heritage with cyberpunk tech vibe, it will offer digital experiences, AI products, smart home solutions, trendy brands, and immersive entertainment.
The carnival aims to turn advanced technologies into touchable, interactive experiences for the public, forming a closed loop of discussing the future at Wuzhen Summit while experiencing it at Puyuan.
The 2025 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit, to be held from Nov 6 to 9, will hold a special significance as it commemorates the 10th anniversary of the vision to build a community with a shared future in cyberspace. Watch this video to explore how a decade of dedication has transformed this vision from proposal to practice, creating new pathways for international collaboration in our increasingly connected world.
Video: Ma Mengmeng and Song Yi
The book Why Wuzhen, written by Ren Xianliang, secretary-general of the World Internet Conference (WIC), was published before this year's Wuzhen Summit, which will run from Nov 6 to Nov 9.
Ren documents the complete ten-year journey of the WIC Wuzhen Summit, from its inception in 2014, to its global reach in 2024 in the book.
"There is a famous saying in the internet industry: 'We don't predict the future; we create it,'" Ren wrote in the book. "In Wuzhen, one can have a strong sense that the future is already here."
An excerpt from the book describes Wuzhen as a "testing ground for the internet", highlighting the deployment of advanced technologies.
Examples cited include 5G-operated remote driving, unmanned public minibuses, 5G patrol robots, and smart hotel systems equipped with facial recognition and voice controls.
The text also notes that WIC events, such as the Straight to Wuzhen Competition and the Light of Internet Expo, function as platforms for new technologies and applications.
"In 2019, the 50th year since the invention of the internet, technological leaps have significantly compressed space and time," Ren wrote. "Looking back at human history, no other technological invention has changed human production and life as extensively and profoundly as the internet."
This year, the Straight to Wuzhen Competition has set up six tracks, such as artificial intelligence and intelligent digital healthcare, and the Light of Internet Expo will set up themed exhibition areas focusing on AI fields and carrying out internet science popularization for the first time.
The WIC Awards for Pioneering Science and Technology has collected more than 400 achievements from 34 countries, covering frontier fields like embodied intelligence and 6G. The award results will be announced as scheduled during the summit.
As a highlight of the 2025 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit, executives from the "Six Little Dragons" — a group of rapidly-rising tech start-ups in Hangzhou, including Game Science, DeepSeek, Unitree Robotics, DEEP Robotics, BrainCo and Manycore Tech — will engage in dialogues to exchange views on the latest developments in artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies, and to explore cross-sector cooperation in addressing global issues.
This year's summit, themed "Forging an Open, Cooperative, Secure and Inclusive Digital Future — Building a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace", will be held in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, from Nov 6 to 9.
The event will bring together senior representatives to discuss frontier issues such as AI governance and digital economy cooperation, according to Ren Xianliang, secretary-general of the WIC.
The establishment of the "Six Little Dragons Dialogue" aims to showcase China's frontier innovations, build a platform to foster collaborative innovation, and strengthen the connection between innovative practices and global agendas, Ren said.
The "Six Little Dragons" represent the new driving forces in frontier technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics and brain-computer interfaces.
"Building an open, secure and inclusive digital future calls for the active participation of these innovation-driven enterprises with global vision," Ren said.
Located in Zhejiang province, the ancient water town of Wuzhen has served as the permanent venue of the WIC since 2014, becoming a key platform for discussing global internet developments.
Ren noted that the growth of Hangzhou's "Six Little Dragons" is closely linked to the favorable innovation ecosystem that has been fostered by the Wuzhen Summit.
The World Internet Conference (WIC) Global Youth Leadership Program has gathered hundreds of young, talented individuals since its launch in 2023. This year, 20 of them were selected as WIC global youth leaders, each representing different voices from 20 countries and regions.
The young leaders were recognized for their remarkable contributions to cyber-related subjects, such as internet research, policy-making, public service and entrepreneurship, playing a vital role in building a community with a shared future in cyberspace.
In the field of internet research, Millenium Anthony from Tanzania focused on digital communities, empowering young girls and young women with the mentorship and digital skills they need to thrive in tech driven spaces.
Roser Almenar from Spain and Mohammed Alfarra from Germany demonstrated the important applications of artificial intelligence as a digital tool across a variety of fields.
As the information and communications technology commissioner of Ugandan Parliament, Isaac Kamugisha advocates for leadership in guiding a sustainable digital transformation and global collaboration in policy and innovation.
In the field of public service, Giannina Honorio Heredia from Peru emphasized the role of youth-led initiatives in promoting digital inclusion and sustainable development, particularly in AI-driven sign language teaching, digital health services for seniors, and IoT-based air quality monitoring.
Hu Zhenquan, as an entrepreneur from China, took the lead in establishing the 360 Digital Security Group in 2019. Under his leadership, the team overcame widespread technical challenges in the field of digital security. In fiscal year 2024, the group collected nearly 1.2 billion yuan ($168 million) in revenue, while providing more reliable, lower-cost network security protection to the world.
The 2025 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit is scheduled to take place from Nov 6 to 9 in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province.
As this year marks the 10th anniversary of the proposal to build a community with a shared future in cyberspace, the summit will acknowledge the progress and achievements made over the past decade, Ren Xianliang, secretary-general of the WIC, said at a news conference in Beijing.
The 2025 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit is expected to create an open platform for international exchanges and cooperation in digital technologies, while helping the global community to seize opportunities brought on by a new round of scientific and technological revolution to benefit humanity, the event's organizer said on Friday.
The summit is scheduled to take place from Nov 6 to 9 in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, with the theme "Forging an Open, Cooperative, Secure and Inclusive Digital Future — Building a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace."
It will focus on new trends in cutting-edge internet technologies and new developments in cyberspace governance, and discuss technology-driven industrial innovation and practices, as well as approaches concerning the governance of cyberspace and frontier technologies, said Ren Xianliang, secretary-general of the WIC.
Ren made the remarks at a news conference in Beijing.
He noted that as this year marks the 10th anniversary of a proposal to build a community with a shared future in cyberspace, the summit will comprehensively summarize the great achievements and vivid practices made over the past decade.
This year's summit will invite business leaders from the "Six Little Dragons" — a group of Chinese tech startups based in Hangzhou, such as DeepSeek and Unitree Robotics, to participate in a dialogue regarding global trends in artificial intelligence innovation and development, and to explore how cross-sector collaboration can help address global challenges, Ren said.
The event will set up 24 sub-forums, while heads and senior representatives from major international organizations, renowned experts and scholars, and executives from leading internet enterprises, including Alibaba, Sohu and 360, have confirmed their attendance.
At present, AI has made breakthroughs with new business models rapidly emerging and innovative applications expanding at an accelerated pace, bringing huge opportunities for the economic and social development of all countries, but AI technologies also bring about risks and challenges, Ren said.
Moreover, a theoretical symposium marking the 10th anniversary of the concept of building a community with a shared future in cyberspace will be held during the event, while specialized committees on e-commerce and cultural heritage digitalization will be established.
AI technologies and industrial development will be under the spotlight during the summit, with five AI-themed sub-forums to be held, said Zhao Cheng, head of the publicity department of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China.
This year's Light of Internet Expo will showcase the remarkable achievements of AI in production and people's daily lives, while themed exhibitions featuring the debut of products in embodied intelligence and quantum technology will be held, Zhao added.
Meanwhile, as new problems are emerging along with the rapid development of AI, the forum on AI technology innovation and governance will bring together experts, scholars, and entrepreneurs from around the world to engage in in-depth discussions on improving AI ethical standards and enhancing collaborative governance.
China's AI sector will make big strides in the next 10 to 15 years, with its market size reaching 1.73 trillion yuan ($242.8 billion) by 2035, accounting for 30.6 percent of the global total, according to market research company CCID Consulting.
The nation has solidified its position as a global leader in AI innovation, and released 1,509 AI models to date, ranking first among the 3,755 models launched globally until now, according to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.
fanfeifei@chinadaily.com.cn
BEIJING -- China's internet sector saw solid growth in business revenue in the first eight months of 2025, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed.
From January to August, China's major internet companies and related services companies generated about 1.29 trillion yuan (roughly $181.46 billion) in business revenue -- up 2.2 percent year-on-year and featuring a growth rate 0.8 percentage points faster than in the first quarter of 2025.
Cumulative profits of major internet companies reached 106.3 billion yuan during this period, down 3.8 percent year-on-year -- with the decline narrowing by 4.5 percentage points from the first half of the year.
Spending on research and development totaled 66.86 billion yuan in the first eight months of 2025 -- an increase of 3.4 percent year-on-year.
Major internet companies and related services companies refer to those with annual internet and related services revenue of at least 20 million yuan.
During the 2025 World Internet Conference (WIC) Digital Silk Road Development Forum in Quanzhou, Fujian province, experts from the WIC Think Tank Cooperation Program unveiled a series of research reports. These reports focused on key areas such as international digital economy cooperation, AI's role in advancing the Digital Silk Road, humanoid robots, and antitrust practices within the digital economy. Their strategic insights aim to support the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative.
The China Telecom Research Institute Esurfing Think Tank unveiled a groundbreaking report titled "Digital Silk Road: A New Global Digital Economy Ecosystem Co-created and Shared by Platform Enterprises." The report conducts an in-depth analysis of four types of platform enterprises: cloud computing, e-commerce, fintech, and digital entertainment, summarizes and proposes four new development models and outlines a clear panoramic roadmap for platform enterprises on how to jointly build and share a new global digital economy ecosystem.
The China Mobile Research Institute (China Mobile Think Tank) released two reports: "Intelligent Silk Road Toward a Digital Future -- AI-Driven Digital Silk Road Enters a New Era of Development" and "Pool Strength for Collaborative AI Governance to Drive the Development of the Digital Silk Road."
The first explores AI's role in empowering economic development and assesses the foundational AI capabilities—computing power, networks, models, and data—across Belt and Road countries. It proposes exploring development pathways through joint technology R&D, infrastructure, and policy alignment.
The second report highlights the importance of building a governance consensus for the Digital Silk Road. It advocates for advancing co-governance mechanisms under the principle of "extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits" by deepening consensus, enhancing governance capacity, and promoting inclusive development.
The China Unicom Research Institute, in partnership with the China Branch of BRICS Institute of Future Networks, released a report titled "Applications and Development Prospects of Humanoid Robots." The report reviews global trends in humanoid robotics, industry structure, and market outlook. It includes in-depth analysis of real-world applications in manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, and home services, and proposes a development strategy focusing on three pillars: hardware foundations, technological integration, and scenario-based deployment.
The Institute of Cyberspace Governance at Wuhan University released a report titled "Practice and Prospects of Antitrust Law in the Global Digital Economy." This report provides a balanced assessment of current antitrust practices in the digital domain, clarifies the appropriate scope of regulation, and offers insights to strengthen routine oversight of the digital economy.
Launched during the 2024 Wuzhen Summit, the WIC Think Tank Cooperation Program brings together 60 think tanks from WIC member organizations and leading global institutions in the internet field. The program aims to build a global platform for academic exchange and dialogue through joint research, forums, publications, and collaborative initiatives, contributing expertise to the development of the internet industry and efforts to bridge the digital divide.
The organizer of the World Internet Conference, held yearly in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, has announced a global call for outstanding digital cultural heritage projects — those that utilize digital technologies to preserve and promote cultural heritage.
Announced last Friday, the endeavor aims to foster international exchanges on digital cultural heritage and share experiences.
The call is open to government departments, international organizations, cultural institutions, museums, research institutes, universities and enterprises, according to a news release on the WIC's website.
Case submissions will be categorized into cultural heritage protection, archaeology, and exhibition and utilization, it said.
The WIC, which has been held annually since 2014, will invite leading global experts in the field of digital cultural heritage to review the submitted materials to determine the final selection of cases.
With the digital wave sweeping across the globe, digitalizing cultural heritage is becoming a bridge connecting civilizations beyond borders, the organizer said.
One example of how digitalization has been used to promote cultural heritage has been the use of 3D scanning technology to replicate the intricate details and spatial essence of ancient architecture with micron-level precision.
"Blockchain technology provides a reliable foundation for authenticating and tracing the provenance of cultural relics, while artificial intelligence algorithms are becoming intelligent assistants for ancient book restoration," the release said.
These digital technologies not only break through the constraints of time and space, but also promote the inheritance of global cultural heritage in the virtual world, fostering the deep integration and shared prosperity of different countries and ethnic cultures in the digital era, the release said.
The cases selected will be included in the World Internet Conference Cultural Heritage Digitization Case Collection and receive award certificates.
The successful applicants will also be invited to attend major conferences and events such as the WIC Wuzhen Summit.
jiangchenglong@chinadaily.com.cn
