Amid ancient bridges and flowing streams, a digital tide surges; in a millennia-old town, the pulse of innovation beats strong. On November 9, 2025, the Award Ceremony of the Global Internet Competition of “Straight to Wuzhen” commenced with a piano music performance by the winning project, Linker Hand. Innovators from around the globe gathered in Wuzhen to envision a brighter future for digital civilization and align on shared goals for the information age.
Themed “Discovering Future’s Emerging Forces, Collaborating on New Digital Ecology,” the competition features 6 tracks this year: Artificial Intelligence, Intelligent Connected Mobility, Digital Intelligent Healthcare, Intelligent Manufacturing, Smart Terminal, and Open Source Projects (Open Source Model Application Contest and Open Source Competitive Challenge). A total of 1,082 projects from 29 countries and regions signed up. After intense online evaluations, 9 semifinals, and 6 finals, judges decided on 6 Grand Prizes, 6 First Prizes, 18 Second Prizes, and 30 Third Prizes.
The inaugural Open Source Competitive Challenge attracted over 600 developers worldwide, with 8 recognized as Most Valuable Players. These outstanding projects and individuals represent not only cutting-edge internet technologies but also the spirit of international digital collaboration and innovation.
Broader Vision: Building a Global Digital Innovation Community
Facing digital transformation, the Global Internet Competition of “Straight to Wuzhen” is expanding its reach with greater openness. Through cross-border exchanges and partnerships with research institutions, technological companies, and innovation platforms worldwide, the competition has cultivated a self-sustaining innovation ecosystem.
As the competition grows, global participants gain deeper insight into China's digital economy and its market potential. Beyond a showcase for technology, the platform facilitates idea exchange, resource matching, and industrial integration. Innovators can better align their technologies with opportunities in China, while global resources are allocated more efficiently.
With a global perspective, the competition is turning the dream of a digital innovation community into reality. It breaks down regional barriers, enabling cross-border synergy of technology, industry needs, and talent. China’s digital development experience is shared globally, while international innovations are incorporated into China's industrial upgrade. This model of open collaboration offers a replicable example for global digital ecosystem development, contributing to a more inclusive, secure, and stable digital order.
Fruitful Results: 100-Billion-Yuan Momentum Nurtured by 7 Years’ Efforts
Since its inception in 2019, the competition has entered its 7th year. The first 6 editions welcomed over 6,500 projects from 47 countries, with nearly 40% of the 252 award-winning projects securing follow-up funding. The competition has become a fertile soil for innovation, nurturing many of today's industry leaders.
This year’s tracks were updated to reflect technological and industry trends. Intelligent Connected Mobility incorporated the low-altitude economy alongside vehicles; Digital Intelligent Healthcare emphasized the power of smart solutions; Intelligent Manufacturing encouraged transformation to increase productivity; while Smart Terminal highlighted AI phones, computers, glasses, and humanoid robots.
Participants included household names like FAW, Xiaomi, and Haier, as well as rising stars like AgiBot, WeRide, LinkerBot, and Lancet Robotics. AgiBot introduced the industry's first embodied intelligence OS reference framework, Lingqu OS, promoting standardization and scalability; LinkerBot's Linker Hand series offers high-performance dexterous hands, with the L20 being the only mass-produced high-DoF model globally; Lancet Robotics specializes in cross-department surgical robots, providing sub-millimeter precision in bone surgery; WeRide, the only autonomous driving company licensed in 6 countries (i.e., China, Singapore, UAE, France, US, and Saudi Arabia) has scaled from Robotaxi to smart sanitation; Xiaomi's HyperAI smart engine enables seamless connectivity across mobile phones, cars, and homes, serving over 500 high-frequency scenarios; and Haier's Three-Winged Bird solution redefines smart home living with proactive, modular customization.
International entries also stood out. Switzerland's ORamaVR unveiled the first neuro-symbolic AI-powered medical XR platform, MAGES SUITE, addressing medical training challenges by no-code possibilities and customized simulations, cutting training costs by 8 times and time by 10 times. The UK’s Brill Power leverages Oxford University’s patented battery management technology to significantly improve battery life and utilization rate through dynamic load distribution, effectively reducing carbon emissions and electricity expenditure. Such projects undoubtedly made the competition more global and cutting-edge.
Creative Model: Open Source as a Path to Collaborative Innovation
This year saw a new track: Open Source Projects, which comprised the Open Source Model Application Contest and the Open Source Competitive Challenge. The former focused on derivative & integrated development of open-source models (e.g., DeepSeek, Qwen, Hunyuan, Llama, and Gemma) for applications in intelligent office, education & training, medical health, R&D design, manufacturing, etc. The latter, partnered with 7 companies or communities (i.e., Alibaba Cloud, Alibaba International, Ant Group, Huawei, Tencent Cloud, openKylin, and Baidu), featured 8 open-source projects. Over 600 developers submitted some 1,700 valid code contributions and modified at least 1.1 million lines of code. Each community selected one Most Valuable Player.
The Open Source Projects boosted engagement and visibility while nurturing young professionals, accelerating open source development, and strengthening the ecosystem.
Shared Future: Seeking Global Digital Collaboration
The “Wings of Digital” Global Ecosystem Community, launched in 2024, is now fully operational, having hosted 11 events to date. In the first half of this year, 2 matchmaking sessions facilitated precise resource alignment. During the semifinals, 5 city forums brought together past winners, current finalists, and companies like Huawei, Tencent, OPPO, TCL, Seres, and Geely to explore tech-industry integration. When it comes to finals, a roundtable on embodied intelligence was organized for participants (e.g., AgiBot and LinkerBot) and UniTree, alongside activities on investment, talent, and industry chains to maximize the value of the community.
Over 7 years, the Global Internet Competition of “Straight to Wuzhen” has evolved from a competition platform into an innovation ecosystem—a vital bridge connecting China and the world in digital innovation. It has witnessed technological breakthroughs, corporate growth, and a global commitment to shared success. Moving forward, the competition will expand its network, enhance full life cycle innovation support, and deepen the integration of digital technology with the real economy, advancing open collaboration in the global digital sphere.
Media Contact
Company Name: ZheJiang TuRing Interent Research Institute
Contact Person: Fangyuan Chen
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Phone: 0571-85228813
City: Hangzhou
Country: China
Website: http://gic.wicwuzhen.cn/
