2026 WIC Wuzhen Summit set for November, focusing on openness

The 2026 World Internet Conference (WIC) Wuzhen Summit will take place in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, China, from Nov 2 to 5, WIC announced at a press conference in Beijing on Sept 29 introducing the summit's agenda, highlights and preparations.

The summit will be held under the theme "Open Source and Openness, Collaborative Development and Shared Benefits - Jointly Building a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace."

"Open source and openness emphasize promoting the flow of technology, knowledge and innovation resources in a more open and inclusive way, so that more countries, companies, research institutions and developers can take part in digital technology innovation," said Ren Xianliang, secretary-general of the World Internet Conference.

The summit will feature an opening ceremony, a main forum and 27 sub-forums on such topics as cyberspace cooperation under the Global Governance Initiative, global collaborative innovation on trusted, interconnected and interoperable intelligent agents, robotics and embodied artificial intelligence, spatio-temporal intelligence, and digital intelligence for green and low-carbon development. A meeting of the WIC Council will also be held during the summit.

Building on previous editions, this year's summit will feature a range of new events. As part of the summit's main forum, the AI Wuzhen Dialogue will feature a panel discussion on the development of a global open-source AI ecosystem, bringing together several representatives from leading AI companies and experts in AI. Research findings on frontier AI safety and governance will also be released to inform discussions on global internet development and governance in the digital and intelligent era.

"We will invite global leading figures in open-source large models and top scientists to hold the AI Wuzhen Dialogue, to exchange ideas and build consensus, so that the voice of Wuzhen responds to reality and leads trends," said Li Yanyi, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee and head of the publicity department of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee.

Flagship events will also return with new highlights. These include the World Internet Conference Awards for Pioneering Science and Technology, the Release and Presentation of Outstanding Cases of Jointly Building a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace, the Light of Internet Expo, the Global Internet Competition of "Straight to Wuzhen," the World Internet Conference Distinguished Contribution Award, the Global Youth Leadership Program and the WIC Global Elite Training.

The summit is hosted by WIC and organized by the People's Government of Zhejiang Province, with international organizations including the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the World Intellectual Property Organization and GSMA serving as supporting organizations.