Conference offers platform to display and share internet technologies

Another round of massive display and exchange of internet technologies, which brings benefits to people around the world, is set to kick off in Wuzhen, East China's Zhejiang province.

This is the fifth time the small town by the river has offered such a platform for the world as the birth place of the annual World Internet Conference.

Here are a few snippets and highlights of WIC events over the years.

Digital Gala

The first WIC event in 2014 was a success and spurred great changes in public infrastructure. The conference was attended by roughly 1,000 internet professionals, officials and experts from more than 100 countries and regions.

The founders of China's top three internet companies Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu, as well as executives from global giants such as Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook, took part in the gala.

The third WIC, themed Innovation-driven Internet Development for the Benefit of All - Building a Community of Common Future in Cyberspace released a series of leading internet scientific and technological achievements, including an Alibaba facial recognition device, the SAP HANA cloud platform, Xiaomi's latest high-end flagship Mi Mix, Sharp's android smartphone, JD.com's drone and driverless vehicle, and Nokia's vehicle-to-vehicle communication.

The hot new releases at that session didn't stop there. Huawei's Kirin 960 processor, Qualcomm's 5G technology, Microsoft's HoloLens technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Cambricon-1A Chip were also shown to the world for the first time.

At the fourth WIC, the organizing committee set up the World Internet Leading Scientific and Technological Achievements Recommendation Committee, with 44 well-known experts and scholars from 10 countries on board. It collected nearly 1,000 innovations in the internet field from all over the world, including the Huawei 3GPP 5G pre-commercial system, Arm security architecture, Microsoft Xiao Bing, the Beidou Satellite Navigation System and the major application achievements of a supercomputer system based on the Shenwei Taihu Lake Light.

An Internet Hub

"Tongxiang's favorable industrial chain is without a doubt an important element," said Yin Xiaodong, CEO of Jiaxing Yuguang Optoelectronic Technology Co, which is engaged in advanced optics and micro nano optical design, manufacturing and application.

Launched in Tongxiang in 2016, the company has developed the world's leading optical design software, and a unique optical system module design and manufacturing process.

The company will showcase its latest technology at WIC this week.

As an internet hub, Wuzhen is also the location of this year's Light of Internet Expo, staged at its International Internet Exhibition and Convention Center.

"The expo features the most innovative, cutting-edge products and fields in information technology, including cloud calculation, big data, quantum communication, and artificial intelligence," said Yuan Jiajun, governor of Zhejiang province, at the expo's opening ceremony.

More than 430 companies from 25 countries and regions attended the event. They included industry giants such as BMW and Alibaba, joined by emerging startups in information technology.

Beyond a conference

The second WIC was arguably the most high-profile internet event in China in 2015. Chinese President attended the opening ceremony and delivered a keynote speech. That year's event closed with the release of the Wuzhen Initiative, which has been called a milestone in the history of the internet.

The fourth WIC concluded with the Report on World Internet Development 2017 and the Report on China Internet Development 2017.

The conference has promoted remarkable discussions and exchanges of opinion on a broad array of issues, including the digital economy, cutting-edge technologies, the interplay between the internet and society, exchange and cooperation, and how to promote common approaches to the governance of cyberspace.