Wuzhen embraces smart tech for better experiences

As the ancient town of Wuzhen in Tongxiang city of Zhejiang province gets ready to host the fourth World Internet Conference from Dec 3 to 5, there will be a sea change this time with intelligent products and modern infrastructure looking to provide better experiences to visitors and participants.

More than 1,500 visitors along with some 800 journalists from around the world are expected to gather for the annual event.

"About 26 intelligent products will be available for services during the conference, giving all the guests a chance to experience the conveniences brought about by intelligent technologies," said Lu Yuan, deputy director of the general office of Tongxiang's organizing committee for the conference.

One of the products being made available is an interpretation machine at the conferences, forums and on buses to help people manage between Chinese and English.

The machines can be put in a pocket and connected to the internet with a cellphone SIM card or wireless network. The product developed by iFly Tek, now a global leading company in voice-recognition technology, was released earlier this year.

Robots that are able to pick up garbage automatically will also be seen at the conference, according to Lu.

There are also some intelligent dustbins that can be opened by merely a gesture of pushing, without touching it with hands. Powered by a solar panel on the flat top and connected to the internet, the dustbin can also recognize the garbage by itself and will report to the authorities if there are any dangerous materials.

The participants in the opening ceremony on Dec 3 and the 20 sub-forums on the following two days can also finish all the registration work via a smartphone application that can be downloaded on the conference's official website, according to Lu, who wants to keep some other functions of the app a secret.

"We want to give cutting-edge products a promotional platform and better serve guests with products provided by our partners," said Lu.

In addition to putting the products into service at the conference, some 126 of the more than 400 companies participating in the Light of Internet Expo will showcase their latest products and technologies.

Wuzhen has reserved 2,307 hotel rooms for the guests and journalists participating in the conference, supplemented by another 1,024 rooms in the urban area of Tongxiang, a county-level city governing Wuzhen.

Several new hotels with a combined investment of 2 billion yuan ($300 million) are now under construction and will be finished in two years. "Upon completion, 3,000 more hotel rooms will be available in Wuzhen," said Lu.