The 2026 Inclusion Conference on the Bund has closed in Shanghai with organizers reporting more than 50 first launches or first displays of technologies, products, and applications. China News Service’s September 13 summary says the four-day event, which ended September 12, concentrated on AI agents, embodied intelligence, AI terminals, quantum technology, and fintech. It offers a useful snapshot of how China’s technology industry is trying to translate AI enthusiasm into partnerships, products, and jobs.
The headline number deserves careful treatment. It is an organizer-reported total, not an independent audit of product readiness or commercial uptake. A first display can be an important milestone, but it is not the same as a scaled deployment. The conference nonetheless brought together more than 300 exhibiting companies and made AI’s role in payments, retail, medical care, financial services, and consumer products unusually visible.
The Bund Conference has increasingly become an event where Chinese companies test the connection between AI research and commercial infrastructure. This year’s theme, “co-creating the AI new economy,” points to a wider shift: AI is being framed less as a stand-alone model race and more as a way to change transactions, work, devices, and services.
A broader showcase for agents and terminals
China News Service reported that the announced debuts covered agents, embodied intelligence, AI terminals, quantum technology, and fintech. That combination reflects a market in which the next AI product may not look like a chatbot. It may be a payment system that lets a verified agent act on a user’s behalf, a device with embedded local intelligence, or a workflow tool that connects a model to an existing business system.
This is particularly clear in financial technology. Ant Group and Ant International have been prominent participants at the event, and the broader industry is working on ways for AI systems to identify themselves, operate within permissions, and complete actions safely. EastFrontier recently covered China’s addition of AI-agent roles to its occupational catalog. The Bund Conference did not settle the technical or regulatory challenges of agent payments, but it showed that the idea is moving from a niche discussion into a major commercial agenda.
Embodied intelligence was also a dedicated focus. This is notable because China’s robot industry has attracted substantial investment, but the path from a compelling demonstration to a useful industrial or service deployment remains difficult. Bringing robot firms together with potential users can help identify real tasks, yet a conference match does not automatically become a contract.
Commercial links matter as much as launches
The most telling figures from the organizers may be the less glamorous ones. China News Service reported that an industry matchmaking session involved 350 companies and generated more than 80 cooperation intentions. Those figures are not a measure of signed revenue, but they point to the mechanism through which an event like this can matter: connecting startups, investors, technology providers, and potential customers.
The conference also hosted a venture meetup with more than 500 investors and 120 AI startups, according to the report. That matters in a market where early-stage AI companies need more than a model release. They need access to compute, data, integration partners, and customers willing to run pilots. Shanghai’s event ecosystem is increasingly trying to provide all of those connections in the same place.
The numbers should not be overstated. A cooperation intention may be an early conversation rather than a commercial agreement. Startup interest can be strong even when deployment remains slow. Still, the format is valuable because AI adoption is rarely a one-company process. It requires coordination among the model developer, the software integrator, the customer, and sometimes a regulator or a hardware supplier.
The Bund Conference also included a job fair focused on large models, intelligent computing, AI applications, embodied intelligence, internet services, and fintech. That fits the wider battle for AI talent. EastFrontier has also covered how China is adding AI-agent roles to its occupational catalog. A conference can create visibility, but the industry’s ability to hire and retain engineers will determine whether the showcased projects move forward.
From event totals to working products
The conference attracted 78,000 onsite participants and 23 million livestream views, organizers said. Such figures show public interest, but they do not reveal which products will find a durable market. The most meaningful outcomes will emerge later, when companies report deployments, renewals, and revenue rather than demonstrations and announcements.
That is the tension at the center of China’s AI economy. There is no shortage of activity. Models, agents, devices, and robot systems are reaching the market quickly. The harder question is which applications can be operated reliably, affordably, and safely enough to become part of daily business.
The Bund Conference’s contribution is to make that question more concrete. By putting payments, agents, robots, startups, and investors in one venue, it creates a place where AI can be judged against actual commercial needs. The 50-plus launch total is a useful marker of activity. It is not yet a measure of impact.