On the morning of November 22, the Award Ceremony for 2024 Global Internet Competition of "Straight to Wuzhen” took place in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province. Wang Song, Deputy Director of the Cyberspace Administration of China, Ren Xianliang, Secretary General of the World Internet Conference, and Gao Xingfu, Deputy Director and Deputy Secretary of the Party Group of the Standing Committee of Zhejiang Provincial People's Congress attended the ceremony. They presented awards and commemorative certificates to representatives of the victorious projects.
The Global Internet Competition of "Straight to Wuzhen" stands as one of the most prominent events of the World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit, with this year marking its sixth iteration. Looking back at the previous five editions, out of 193 award-winning projects, 49.2% of the participating enterprises secured new financing after the competition, with a financing exceeding RMB 89.8 billion. Furthermore, 8 companies emerged as quasi-unicorns, 17 transformed into unicorns, and three successfully listed on the stock market. This year's competition, in addition to its traditional tracks of Intelligent Connected Vehicles, Digital Medicine, Industrial Internet, Smart IoT, and Digital Culture, introduced the AI+ Innovative Application Competition for the first time. A total of 1,048 projects from 27 countries worldwide, including 214 overseas submissions, were received. Following intense preliminary, semifinal, and final rounds, 59 projects were chosen to grace the award ceremony stage, receiving 6 special awards, 6 first prizes, 18 second prizes, and 29 third prizes.
On behalf of the Cyberspace Administration of China, Wang Song warmly congratulated the successful organization of the competition and the award winners. He emphasized that digital technology is propelling the accelerated progression of the scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation. Leading-edge internet technologies, such as artificial intelligence, quantum technology, big data, and 6G communication, are continuously emerging, driving iterative upgrades in production methods, lifestyles, and social governance paradigms. Especially the swift advancement of artificial intelligence presents novel historical opportunities. Aligning with the theme "Discovering the Future’s Emerging Forces, Collaborating on New Digital Ecology," the competition held this year inaugurated the AI+ Innovative Application Competition. This initiative aims to foster the integration and application of AI across various sectors, thereby bolstering the expedited growth of new productive forces. Wang Song presented three aspirations for the competition's future: establishing and improving its global network to foster deeper international exchanges and cooperation, harnessing the competition's professional and technical leadership to steer scientific and technological intelligence towards beneficial outcomes, and elevating the competition's brand influence while nurturing emerging talents for the future.
In his address, Gao Xingfu emphasized that Zhejiang, after two decades of substantial growth, has emerged as a thriving hub for digital economy development. As early as 2003, during General Secretary Xi Jinping's tenure in Zhejiang, he had visionary plans for crafting Digital Zhejiang. Over the past 20 years, successive provincial party committees and governments have consistently adhered to this blueprint, recognizing the digital economy as a pivotal driver for high-quality progress. Recently, Zhejiang has prioritized bolstering its scientific and technological innovation capabilities, fostering industrial competitive edges, advancing the deep integration of digital and physical sectors, and constructing new infrastructure. The province has been proactive in implementing eight critical initiatives, including fortifying infrastructure, unlocking the potential of data elements, vigorously promoting the amalgamation of digital technologies with the real economy, and shaping a contemporary industrial system. Following a decade of development, Wuzhen Summit has fostered unanimity among stakeholders and established itself as a platform for global internet dialogue, exchange, and collaboration.
Event site photographs
Over the years of accumulation, the competition has gradually evolved into an ecosystem centered around participating projects, expert judges, investment institutions, partners and local governments. As it embarks on a new five-year journey, the competition aims to align itself with the digital development trajectory, with roots in Zhejiang, a national outlook, and a global ambition. It strives to resonate with the pulse of the digital economy, forge a new digital engine for progress, cultivate a new digital ecosystem under co-governance and sharing, and establish a new digital and intelligent platform to attract exceptional talent, so as to inject more "digital vigor" into Zhejiang's and the nation's economic landscape and to establish "Wings of Digital" Global Ecosystem Community. This community serves as a strong magnet, drawing in participating projects, judges, experts, investment institutions, partners, and governments across the globe, aiming to strengthen policy, market, technology, financing, talent, and industry chain synergies, opening up a plethora of collaborative opportunities for all ecosystem participants, fully unleashing their value, and contributing new strength to building a community with a shared future in cyberspace towards a new stage.
Over 500 delegates from governments, projects, expert panels, enterprises, and the media converged at this event.
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