The ongoing 2024 World Internet Conference (WIC) Wuzhen Summit issued two blue books, the World Internet Development Report 2024 and the China Internet Development Report 2024, on Thursday in Wuzhen Town, east China's Zhejiang Province.
The reports review China's development over the past three decades since it gained full access to the Internet, and predict the key directions for future development of the internet industry.
With nearly 1.1 billion Internet users and 78 percent Internet penetration rate, China has become the largest Internet market around the world, according to the report.
Over the past year, China has seen rapid development in 5G, fiber-optic networks, IPv6, integrated space-ground networks, computing power, the Beidou satellite system, artificial intelligence (AI) and other fields.
"In 2023, the added value of China's core digital economy industries surpassed 12 trillion yuan (about 1.65 trillion U.S. dollars), accounting for more than 10 percent of China's gross domestic product (GDP). The goals set out for the 14th five-year plan (2021-2025) for China's digital economy development is expected to be achieved ahead of schedule," said Li Wei, associate researcher of the Institute of Information Technology of the Chinese Academy of Cyberspace Studies.
The blue book said the changes brought by AI development are expected to give strong momentum to the development of new quality productive forces, and promote the establishment of high-quality data sets, realize efficient sharing of computing resources, strengthen the development of cutting-edge artificial intelligence technologies, and promote the research and development of technologies such as large models and embodied intelligence.
"The Internet economy initially started with consumer applications. When it is used in industrial scenarios, the personalization of industrial applications and their special requirements for Internet bandwidth, delay, jitter and packet loss required the Internet to innovate in order to adapt to its development," said Wu Hequan, academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering.
The World Internet Development Report 2024 noted that over the past year, the international governance system for cyberspace has been evolving, and the international community should speed up international consensus in areas like AI and data.
"There's innovation that takes place here which is specific to China. There's also things that China can take to the world, and also that multinationals can bring here. The AI and internet, and on-going e-commerce are all areas where there is cross-border pollination, and where we each learn and profit from each other," said Michael Hart, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China.
The 2024 WIC Wuzhen Summit is scheduled to run from Nov 19 to 22 in the water town of Wuzhen in Zhejiang Province, east China.
Themed "Embracing a People-centered and AI-for-good Digital Future -- Building a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace," the summit features 24 sub-forums on topics such as the Global Development Initiative, digital economy and data governance.
World Internet Conference issues Internet development blue books
