The 2021 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, or WAIC, will kick off on July 8 in the city of Shanghai in East China.

The three-day event is mainly composed of four major sections – a forum, exhibition, competition and user experience – and will also be presented online.

The scale of this year's on-site exhibition will be further expanded, with the total exhibition area reaching 40,000 square meters, twice that of last year. The online exhibition platform will be upgraded as well.

Competitions – such as an algorithm competition and a youth AI competition – will be staged during the event.

This year's WAIC will showcase the frontiers of the AI industry. It will also attract the participation of  upstream and downstream businesses in the industry ecosystem and is expected to provide visitors with the best applications experience, according to Wu Jincheng, director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization.

The event will gather top scientists, entrepreneurs, government officials, experts and academics, international organizations, investors and start-up teams.

WAIC has been successfully held three times since 2018. It aims to promote the gathering and exchange of global AI innovation ideas, technologies, applications, talent and capital – and press ahead with the collaboration of global scientific and technological innovation, thus helping to build a world-class AI industry cluster.