UNIDO Director General LI Yong was invited to attend WAIC and delievered a keynote speech

Based on a global consensus to accelerate the development of Artificial Intelligence for industry, the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) opened in Shanghai as the city gears up to be the national center for the thriving technology. Official statistics show that Shanghai is already home to 1,000 AI companies, and rapidly becoming a global hub.

UNIDO Director General LI Yong was invited to attend the opening ceremony and make a remark. “Incentives are needed for lifelong-learning, private sector involvement and for the global community to create knowledge-sharing platforms to better understand AI creation, diffusion and absorption”, Director LI said . “Countries with strong capabilities in science, technology and innovation will have a strong advantage, this raises the concern that it will widen the technological gap between developed and developing countries.

The UNIDO Director General, LI Yong, further emphasized the impact of AI and 4IR on industries, value chains and developing countries, with UNIDO utilizing its technical expertise to establish demonstration and learning innovation centres that will act as knowledge and innovation hubs for SMEs.

Party Secretary of Shanghai Municipality, LI Qiang,was invited to attend the opening ceremony and make a remark. He pointed out, as an important driving force for a new round of technological revolution and industrial change, artificial intelligence is profoundly changing the world.

Organized by the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, tye'zaihe Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and partners from academia, the 3-day WAIC conference aims at building a world-class platform for AI cooperation and communication.