An inauguration ceremony for four YRD industrial chain alliances is held during the 2021 Forum of Major Leaders of the Yangtze River Delta in Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu province, on May 27. [Photo/WeChat account: hefeigaoxinfabu]

Major leaders of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) inaugurated four industrial chain alliances for artificial intelligence, integrated circuits, biomedicine, and new energy vehicles at a forum in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, on May 27.

The Yangtze River Delta consists of the municipality of Shanghai and the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Anhui.

Cities in the Yangtze River Delta should promote integration in industrial innovation, including dealing with core problems in science and innovation, promoting the transformation of industrial technology through digital methods, deepening links between research, production, supply, and marketing with regional partners, developing a green low-carbon economy, and improving the business environment and services, said Li Jinbin, Party secretary of Anhui province.

The artificial intelligence industrial chain alliance is led by Hefei-based domestic AI leader iFlytek, which is located in the Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui province.

The alliance currently has 60 members, including Nanjing-based e-commerce company Suning, Hangzhou-based digital technology company Hikvision, Fudan University in Shanghai, Zhejiang University, Nanjing University, the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, and other major AI-related enterprises and academic institutions in the YRD.

It will serve as a think tank for the development of AI in the YRD and help promote innovative AI applications across the region. It aims to enhance the competitiveness of the YRD's AI industry, facilitate the deep integration of AI and the real economy, and contribute to the integrated development of the YRD.