TIANJIN - The seventh World Intelligence Congress (WIC), a major artificial intelligence (AI) event in China, kicked off in the northern Tianjin Municipality on Thursday.

With an aim to build a global platform for academic exchanges, exhibitions, innovation and business promotion in the field of intelligent technology, this year's event has attracted almost 500 exhibitors from all over the world.

"In recent years, China has experienced rapid growth in the AI industry, resulting in notable economic and social benefits," said Wang Zhigang, China's minister of science and technology, speaking at the opening ceremony of the event.

By 2022, China had secured the top position globally in terms of the number of patent applications filed for AI technologies. The scale of the core AI industry in China has surpassed 500 billion yuan ($71.46 billion), with more than 4,200 major enterprises, comprising approximately 16 percent of the global total, the minister noted.

The four-day event, themed "Intelligence: Extensive Development Space, Sustainable Growth Driver," is being held at National Convention and Exhibition Center (Tianjin) and multiple other venues in the port city.

Covering a record exhibition area of 120,000 square meters, the intelligent technology event has set up 10 themed exhibition areas, including information technology application innovation, AI and 5G+ industrial internet.

Since its inauguration in 2017, the event has offered a platform for scientists, entrepreneurs and economists from home and abroad to discuss the frontier trends of intelligent technology.