CIIF 2026: Major Alliances, Infrastructure Launched to Boost Industrial AI

Credit: Ti Gong

Caption: A speaker shares her vision today during the Yangtze River Delta Industrial AI Innovation and Development Forum at the 26th China International Industrial Fair in Shanghai.

A series of jointly built platform unveilings, strategic agreements and infrastructure initiatives took center stage at the ongoing 26th China International Industrial Fair (CIIF 2026), accelerating the convergence of artificial intelligence with manufacturing across Shanghai and the broader Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region.

At the Yangtze River Delta Industrial AI Innovation and Development Forum, the YRD Industry Innovation Synergy Promotion Center was officially inaugurated. It will serve as a high-level public support platform to facilitate cross-regional factor integration, technology verification, and industrial scenario matching.

Meanwhile, Yangtze River Delta Investment (Shanghai) signed a strategic agreement with the Ningbo Eastern Institute of Technology to jointly build a YRD Industrial Software Incubation Base, establishing a high-level school-enterprise collaborative innovation network.

The YRD investment firm also partnered with key institutions, including the East China Branch of CAICT, East China Normal University's School of Software Engineering, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank and INESA Group, to form the YRD Industrial Software Innovation Consortium. The coalition aims to jointly tackle core technology bottlenecks and bridge the gap from research and development (R&D) to commercial application.

Credit: Ti Gong

Caption: Plan to launch a General AI Infrastructure Base for Shanghai's 15th Five-Year Plan was announced at the CIIF 2026.

At the AI-Drive Transformation of Engineering and Industries Forum, Shanghai officially launched a joint initiative to build a General AI Infrastructure Base for its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30). The platform will supply manufacturing enterprises with essential network, computing, data, cybersecurity, industrial corpora and AI model capabilities on demand, just like "public utilities such as water, electricity and gas".

Seven founding entities – including China Telecom, INESA Group, and the Shanghai Academy of Next Generation Information and Communications Technology – have joined the initiative, covering logistics data, telecom networks, cloud computing, industrial software and digital research services.