(Photo by Zhao Yaling and Jiang Wenchao)

The 8th Future Network Development Conference opened at Nanjing Shangqinhuai International Cultural Exchange Center on August 22.

Hosted by Nanjing Municipal People’s Government, and organized by Purple Mountain Laboratories and China Institute of Communications, the conference witnessed the launch of four major scientific research achievements, including China Environment for Network Innovations (CENI), Wide-Area Deterministic Network with Converged Optical Routing Architecture (CORA WDN), In-carrier Time-sensitive Network Control System, and Millisecond Real-Time Intelligence Technology for 6G Wireless Networks.

The conference consists of an opening ceremony, a main forum, and 15 sub-forums, along with various activities such as the announcement of leading research outcomes, the Future Network Science and Technology Innovation Competition, and an exhibition of innovative achievements. The event hosted in-depth discussions and exchanges on frontier topics such as future networks, computing power networks, deterministic networking, 6G, artificial intelligence, and industrial internet.

(Photo by Zhao Yaling and Jiang Wenchao)

The opening ceremony featured a panel discussion on “Development Strategies for Network Communication in the Age of Intelligent Internet”. Participants included Wu Hequan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), Li Deren, an academician at both the CAE and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and recipient of the China's top National Science and Technology Award, and Liu Yunjie, a CAE academician and Chief Scientist of Purple Mountain Laboratories. They shared their views on artificial intelligence, large language models, computing power networks, and other fields to advance the industry development. A couple of major cooperation projects were also signed at the opening ceremony.

The main forum attracted internationally renowned experts in the field of future networks, academicians from the CAE and CAS, professors from Carnegie Mellon University, the University of California Riverside, and Université de Savoie, as well as representatives from prominent domestic companies such as China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom, Huawei, ZTE, H3C and Alibaba. The forum provided a platform for sharing innovative achievements and exploring future network applications.

(Photo by Zhao Yaling and Jiang Wenchao)

The sub-forums from Aug. 21 to Aug. 23 will cover various specialized research fields, such as future network frontier technology, 6G integrated communication, digital twin, governance of Internet infrastructure resource, and data element. Experts will offer their insights to enhance China's innovation capabilities and promote the development of the country's network industry and technology.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of China's access to the global Internet. "We should give full play to our advantages of 5G network coverage, expand network coverage to the sea, lakes, mountains and forests, and speed up the integrated development of the digital economy and the real economy, so as to actually benefit the people," said Zhao Houlin, former Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union.

(Photo by Zhao Yaling and Jiang Wenchao)

Having been held seven times, the conference has become a globally leading event for technical exchanges and exhibition of achievements in the future network sector, attracting industry elites including Nobel laureates and Turing Award winners. On average, each event has drawn over 3,000 participants.

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