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Keynote by Prof. Fangtian Ying
On September 20, the 2026 World Manufacturing Convention opened in Hefei, Anhui Province, China. The event was jointly hosted by the People’s Government of Anhui Province, the National Strategic Advisory Committee on Building China into a Manufacturing Power, the China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, the Global Alliance of SMEs, and other organizations. Under the theme “Intelligent Manufacturing for a Better Future,” the convention placed a strong focus on emerging industries such as quantum technology, embodied intelligence, and biomanufacturing, bringing together more than 1,000 distinguished guests from around the world to exchange insights on the future of industrial development.
Prof. Ying Fangtian, Fellow of the Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Division of the European Academy of Engineering, Director General of the World Eco-Design Organization, and Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at Zhejiang University’s College of Artificial Intelligence, delivered a keynote address titled “Empowering the Physical World with AI: Towards a Shared Intelligent Future for Manufacturing.”
Prof. Ying Fangtian, Fellow of the Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Division of the European Academy of Engineering, Director General of the World Eco-Design Organization, and Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at Zhejiang University’s College of Artificial Intelligence, delivered a keynote address titled “Empowering the Physical World with AI: Towards a Shared Intelligent Future for Manufacturing.”
Keynote by Prof. Fangtian Ying
The following summarizes the key points from Prof. Ying Fangtian’s address:
1. AI is evolving from large language models toward foundation models for the physical world, advancing from semantic understanding to physical-world reasoning and simulation, and moving beyond virtual environments into factory floors and laboratories. Physical AI is redefining the limits of productivity.
2. No country can bring about a manufacturing revolution alone. China and Europe should move beyond the trading of goods toward joint design, joint R&D, and joint validation. Europe excels in design and standard-setting, while China excels in engineering execution and industrial implementation. Together, they form an indispensable ecosystem of complementary strengths in physical innovation and engineering.
3. China has the world’s most comprehensive industrial system and an unparalleled wealth of engineering and physical-world data. Even more valuable are the tacit knowledge embedded in its engineering workforce and datasets spanning the full lifecycle—from design and simulation to process engineering, manufacturing, operations, and maintenance. These are the real foundations for developing large-scale models for engineering and the physical world.
4. The “亿脑万象 Inno All” large-scale model for engineering and the physical world is built around four core capabilities: Industrial Ontology, Physics-Informed Reasoning, Generative Engineering Symbiosis, and Global Collaborative Network. Together, these capabilities enable machines to truly understand the fundamental logic governing how the physical world works.
5. Engineering intelligence should be developed as a global public good shared by all humanity, with particular benefits for the Global South and small and medium-sized enterprises. Young entrepreneurs and companies with only a hundred employees should also have access to world-class R&D and validation capabilities, advancing the shared access to engineering intelligence and technological sovereignty.
6. AI is not meant to replace humans or widen social divides, but to amplify human intelligence and uphold human dignity. It should help preserve and pass on the experience of veteran engineers, free frontline workers from hazardous tasks, and empower them to become the orchestrators of embodied intelligence.
7. Rooted in science, enabled by engineering, and driven by openness, global manufacturing cooperation should evolve from the exchange of products to the sharing of knowledge and the co-creation of human progress. Countries around the world are warmly invited to jointly build this intelligent system for engineering and the physical world.
Let us ignite the spark of industrial intelligence together, and let a smarter, more open, and more inclusive manufacturing sector illuminate a brighter future for all humanity!
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