On the afternoon of February 28, the Northern Area Sub-Forum of the 2026 Haidian District High-Quality Economic and Social Development Conference — "University-Local Synergy, AI Powered New Journey" — the Haidian Northern District AI Innovation Ecosystem Development Forum, was successfully held.
The forum was organized by Shangdi Sub-district in coordination with seven other sub-districts and towns in the northern area, and multiple partners. Guided by the vision of "technology as the core, ecology as the link, and the Lantern Festival as the cultural refrain", it created a technological feast that blended forum discussions, achievement showcases, and interactive folk activities. Tang Chao, Deputy Director of the Zhongguancun Science City Administrative Committee and Vice District Chief of Haidian, attended the event and addressed the audience.
Themed Forums+Specialized Roadshows:
Empowering the Entire AI Industry Chain
"We have designed five themed activities to precisely meet the needs of AI enterprises at every stage, from university-local incubation and innovation startup cultivation to global expansion. By comprehensively integrating roadshows, policy launches, and resource matching into the activities, we are building a full-chain service system. We extend a sincere invitation to global innovators, scientists, and high-growth companies to join us in the northern area, collectively strengthening the AI industry and injecting new momentum into Haidian's high-quality development", said Zhang Dongchuan, Party Secretary of the CPC Shangdi Sub-district Committee. Zhang also expressed that, "The forum, themed 'University-District Synergy, AI Powered New Journey', serves as a bridge connecting university research with industrial needs. Key segments included cutting-edge talks, the launch of a plan for an 'Integration of Education, Science, and Talent Practice Base', the kick-off of the 2026 Haidian Northern Area Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, and displays of regional technological innovations. Those activities highlight the innovation potential of Haidian District."
The launching event for the Shangdi AI OPC Innovation-Block-Friendly Community and the OPC Support Measures, focusing on the new paradigm of solo entrepreneurship. Through three key components, including the release of special support measures for Shangdi AI OPC, the launching of an intelligent one-stop OPC service platform, and the establishment of the Shangdi AI OPC Innovation-Block-Friendly Community, it created an exclusive empowerment platform for startup founders. The Shangdi International Ecological Cooperation Service Forum, grounded in the deep integration trend of globalization and digitalization, featured multiple segments: the release of the Haidian District Shangdi Sub-district HardTech Enterprise Go-Global Service System, the establishment of the "Haidian Go-Global Service Port-Shangdi Station", the launch of the 28th CHITEC · Shangdi UPSIDE Event Enterprise Service Express, and a promotion for the 28th China Beijing International High-Tech Expo (CHITEC). These initiatives aim to build international showcasing and cooperation platforms for enterprises.
Two specialized roadshows, respectively showcasing the high-quality projects of AI OPC and the AI+ application in the Northern district, connected over 30 top-tier investment institutions with promising startups, facilitating efficient matching of projects with capital and market opportunities.
Wu Faping, Deputy General Manager of Zhongguancun Development Group, highlighted the Group's role in building a comprehensive sci-tech innovation service system that has already integrated capital providing, financial support, service kit, and network coordination. "We sincerely invite top teams, young scholars, and sci-tech enterprises worldwide to establish themselves in the Software Park, take root in Haidian, and integrate into the Zhongguancun innovation ecosystem", he stated.
University-Local Synergy:
Bridging the Lab-to-Market Gap
A core highlight was the joint announcement by the Peking University Faculty of Engineering, Shangdi Sub-district, and Zhongguancun Software Park to build a "Science-Education-Talent Comprehensive Practice Base". This initiative aims to deeply integrate technological and industrial innovation, fostering a virtuous cycle between independent innovation and talent cultivation. It exemplifies Haidian's practice in "Three Integration" concept: merging university campuses, industrial parks, and urban communities, to create interconnected innovation, industry, and living circles.
In response, officials from the participating sub-districts stated that they would continue to deepen service delivery at the grassroots level and act as collaborators embodying the "five parties and six forces". They committed to taking primary responsibility by fully leveraging the local area's organizational strength, effectively channeling universities' innovation strength, actively attracting capital's value creation strength, deeply enhancing incubators' cultivation strength, and rationally allocating industrial parks' carrying capacity. Through these efforts, they aim to foster coordinated contributions from all sides and collectively activate market vitality, ensuring that enterprises can invest with confidence, develop with peace of mind, and start businesses in a supportive environment.
Meanwhile, the "2026 Haidian Northern Area Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition", jointly launched by the eight sub-districts in the northern area, officially kicked off. Focusing on cutting-edge fields such as AI, integrated circuits, and quantum technology, the competition offers support and rewards valued at over 10 million yuan for high-quality participating projects, serving as a vital platform for discovering potential enterprises and nurturing new industrial seedlings.
Solid Strength:
Technology in Action
During the keynote sharing session, Yang Yue, Dean of the School of Mechanics and Engineering Science at Peking University, delivered a talk titled AI Empowering the Integration of Industry and Education in Industrial Software, interpreting the cutting-edge trends in the convergence of AI and industrial software. Zhang Zhengtao, Researcher and Doctoral Supervisor at the CASIA( Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences), and Chairman of Beijing Zhongke Huiling Robot Technology Co., Ltd. (HLRobot for short), shared insights in his speech General-Purpose Embodied Robots Focusing on Scenario Implementation, demonstrating the achievements of embodied intelligence in scenarios such as industrial manufacturing and mining operations.
Zhang Zhengtao shared research outcomes in fields including industrial vision inspection and intelligent robotic systems. He revealed that HLRobot, a high-tech enterprise incubated by CASIA, has developed full-stack in-house R&D capabilities covering the "body, embodied algorithms, and dexterous hands". Its bipedal humanoid robot, CASBOT 02, features 33 degrees of freedom and can achieve a walking speed of 2m/s, with commercial implementation already underway in areas such as industrial manufacturing and the mining and energy sectors.
Currently, Haidian District is committed to transforming its entire area into a "Super Application Hub for AI", promoting the empowerment of various industries by AI. This forum serves as a concentrated manifestation of this strategy in the northern area. Moving forward, Shangdi Sub-district will continue to aim to become a nationwide leading demonstration zone for AI applications, working with other sub-districts in the northern area to continuously optimize the sci-tech innovation ecosystem, improve the service system, and build cooperation platforms, ensuring that more innovative achievements are transformed, more entrepreneurial dreams are realized, and more leading enterprises grow and thrive in Haidian's northern area.
It is understood that the northern area brings together a large number of leading AI enterprises and innovation SMEs, forming a complete industrial ecological chain from foundational technology R&D to application scenario implementation, making outstanding contributions to the district's overall AI industry development. This forum, adopting a "driving the conference with an exhibition, synchronizing exhibition and conference" approach, is the area's first comprehensive platform built around AI that integrates achievement display, technical exchange, industrial collaboration, and ecological co-construction.
Empowering the Growth of OPC:
Shangdi Creates a New High Ground for AI OPC Entrepreneurship
In the AI era, even solo entrepreneurs can unlock new industrial horizons!
On the morning of March 1, Shangdi Sub-district hosted a grand event tailored for AI super individuals — the launching of Shangdi AI OPC Innovation-Block-Friendly Community Establishment and OPC Support Measure, was successfully held. From providing free registered addresses and computing power resource matching, to technical empowerment and capital matching, from incubation and nurturing to scenario implementation, Shangdi Sub-district has built a full-chain growth ecosystem for "One-Person Company (OPC)" entrepreneurs. Relevant leaders, key enterprises, investment institutions, and nearly a hundred entrepreneurs witnessed the official launch of this innovation ecosystem on site.
With the establishment of the Shangdi AI OPC Innovation District Friendly Community, the Shangdi AI OPC Innovation and Entrepreneurship Support Measures were simultaneously released. Centered on six dimensions: entrepreneurship support, cultivation empowerment, technical assurance, spatial support, scenario empowerment, and innovation ecology. These measures include nine concrete initiatives, such as organizing customized training for outstanding OPCs, building a one-stop service platform to connect computing power and model resources, providing multi-functional shared office spaces, and regularly curating and sharing high-value application scenarios. The core aim is to enable OPC entrepreneurs to start without cost, get full-chain mentorship, and benefit from strong technical support.
In the spring of 2026, as the wave of AI surges forward, Shangdi is welcoming "super individuals" from across the country with an open attitude, precise services, and a well-developed ecosystem, enabling them to take root and grow here, collectively writing the infinite possibilities of the OPC and injecting a continuous stream of innovative momentum into Haidian's construction of a national AI industry highland and the development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region as an International Center for Science and Technology Innovation.
