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The Wave Summit is China’s premier deep learning developer conference, launched in 2020 and jointly organized by Baidu and the National Engineering Laboratory for Deep Learningred-dot.org. The name “Wave” symbolizes a wave of scientific and technological progress – organizers note we are in the second “wave” of AI innovationred-dot.org. Branded as a “Deep Learning Developer Summit,” the conference provides technical sessions, keynote talks, and demonstrations of cutting-edge AI researchred-dot.org. The event’s branding even won a Red Dot design award in 2020 for its innovative wave-based visualsred-dot.org.
Wave Summit History and Recurrence
Wave Summit is a biannual deep-learning developer conferenceresearch.baidu.com. For example, Wave Summit 2021 took place on May 20, 2021 in Shanghairesearch.baidu.comyicaiglobal.com, where Baidu unveiled major upgrades like PaddlePaddle v2.2yicaiglobal.com. In 2022 the conference returned with a spring session in Beijing (highlighted by hardware partnership announcementsimaginationtech.com) and a “Wave Summit+” event on November 30, 2022research.baidu.com. The 2023 Wave Summit was held on August 17, 2023 in Beijingnewo.ai, continuing the pattern of twice-yearly AI gatherings. Locations have alternated between Beijing and Shanghai (and sometimes been fully online), with Baidu’s deep learning platform, PaddlePaddle, and large AI models as centerpieces at each summityicaiglobal.comresearch.baidu.com.
Key Topics and Announcements at Wave Summit
At each Wave Summit, Baidu showcases new advances in AI. Common themes and highlights include:
- Deep Learning Platforms: Baidu often releases upgraded versions of its PaddlePaddle framework at the Wave Summit. For example, PaddlePaddle v2.2 was launched at the 2021 summityicaiglobal.com, and in 2023 Baidu announced PaddlePaddle 2.5 with new architecture and performance optimizationsmaginative.com.
- Large AI Models (ERNIE Bot): The summit is the stage for Baidu’s large language models. In late 2022, Baidu revealed 11 new models in its ERNIE familyresearch.baidu.com. At Wave Summit 2023, the company introduced five native plugins to expand ERNIE Bot’s capabilities (including search, document interaction, data visualization, image dialogues, and text-to-video generation)newo.ai.
- AI Ecosystem and Community: The conference highlights the growth of Baidu’s AI developer community. By November 2022, Baidu reported PaddlePaddle had 5.35 million developers and 200,000 enterprise clientsresearch.baidu.com. Baidu’s AI Studio (Xinghe) community is now China’s largest AI development ecosystem with over 6.09 million projectsmaginative.com. The summit has also launched co-creation initiatives (e.g. the AI Studio Co-Creation Plan) to engage developers in building AI applicationsmaginative.com.
- Industry Collaboration: A recurring focus is integrating AI into various industries. Baidu CTO Haifeng Wang has stressed that “AI is becoming deeply integrated with industry” and urged that platforms “keep lowering their threshold” for adoptionresearch.baidu.com. At Wave Summit 2023, Baidu introduced PaddleScience 1.0, an AI research platform for scientists, reflecting this trendmaginative.com. Major tech partnerships are also announced at the summit: for instance, Imagination Technologies launched a PaddlePaddle hardware co-creation program at Wave Summit 2022 in Beijingimaginationtech.com, showing cross-industry collaboration.
Key Speakers and Organizers
Wave Summit events are typically headlined by Baidu’s leadership and Chinese AI experts. Baidu’s CTO Haifeng Wang often delivers the main keynote, outlining technology trends and strategy (in 2021 he emphasized AI integration and lowering barriers for adoptionresearch.baidu.com). Corporate Vice President Tian Wu was another keynote speaker at Wave Summit 2023, where he announced the five new ERNIE Bot pluginsmaginative.com. The summit is co-hosted by China’s National Engineering Laboratory for Deep Learning (reflecting government-academia backing), and frequently includes talks by industry and academic partners. In summary, Baidu’s own executives and co-organizing lab experts drive the agenda at each Wave Summitred-dot.orgmaginative.com.
Wave Summit Impact and Public Reception
The Wave Summit is seen as a major fixture on China’s AI calendar. Media coverage highlights its role in showcasing Baidu’s AI progress. For example, Yicai reported that at Wave Summit 2021, Baidu’s PaddlePaddle platform (the nation’s largest AI framework) had attracted 4.1 million developers and built 476,000 modelsyicaiglobal.com. By late 2022, this community had grown to 5.35 million developersresearch.baidu.com. Such metrics illustrate the summit’s impact on nurturing a developer ecosystem. The summit’s visual brand has even won design accoladesred-dot.org, suggesting positive reception. Overall, tech analysts and attendees generally regard Wave Summit as a key event for China’s AI community: its announcements are widely covered and it reinforces Baidu’s leadership in deep learning, amid growing competition from other Chinese tech giants.
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