With China at the forefront of global AI (artificial intelligence) application innovation and the overseas market ripe with opportunity in related fields, China is organizing an event to give participants a chance to present their innovative ideas on a global stage.

The 2nd Digiloong Cup Global AI Innovation Competition (Digiloong GAIC) — initiated by Century Huatong (parent of Century Games) — was officially launched on April 2, with an aim to help build a full-chain empowerment system focusing on AI technological innovation and industrial application, and the translation of AI into real productivity.

The investment division of Century Huatong will provide special investment connection services for high-quality projects and work with well-known venture capital institutions to build an exclusive and efficient investment matchmaking channel for participating teams — helping projects obtain financial support.

Fang Hui, CSO of Century Huatong, invited global developers and youth entrepreneurial talent to offer high-quality ideas, feasible commercialization schemes, and to closely follow the trends in AI technology.

The 1st Digiloong GAIC was successfully held last year, achieving fruitful results with over 150 high-quality innovative teams from around the world participating. After rigorous review, 11 teams stood out from the pack and won honors across six award categories.

This year's competition has set a complete schedule — submissions are open from April 2 to May 31; preliminary selection runs between June 1 and June 15 — conducting the first round of professional screening — and the re-selection and finalist period ranges from June 16 to June 30.

Offline review of shortlisted works will be carried out in mid-to-late July for offline professional competition.

The award ceremony will be held at ChinaJoy 2026 on July 31 to announce the winners and commend outstanding AI innovation achievements.

In terms of track design, the 2nd Digiloong GAIC has expanded its tracks and set up three major tracks in AI Games, AI Applications, and AI Agents in a bid to fully cover the core application fields of current AI technology.

Meanwhile, regional empowerment has become an important highlight of this year's event, as the organizer will cooperate with multiple partners to arrange characteristic offline activities in three cities: Hangzhou, Macao, and Shanghai.

"This new arrangement helps to build a regional innovation empowerment network, activate the AI innovation vitality of different regions, boost innovative development of the AI industry in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the Yangtze River Delta, and other regions, and expand the global influence of the competition," Fang said.

The 2nd Digiloong GAIC pays more attention to the post-competition incubation and long-term support of participating projects. In addition to cash rewards, it has created a diversified characteristic reward system, providing participating teams with comprehensive empowerment from exposure, resources to capital and technology, and allowing high-quality innovative projects to continue to receive development support after the competition.

The core feature of this competition is "one registration, two competitions participation," as it has been closely linked with the 4th Cultural and Creative Shanghai Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. Teams shortlisted for the Digiloong GAIC can simultaneously participate in the selection of the latter's "Intelligent Future +" track, unlocking double exposure opportunities, multiple policy supports, and rich industry resources for participating teams.

Additionally, all high-quality participating projects will be included in the competition resource pool, continuously enjoying the empowerment dividends of the competition and realizing the long-term development of the projects.

Since its inception, the Digiloong GAIC has been committed to building a platform for AI innovation and industrial application and helping cutting-edge AI technology achieve breakthroughs and commercial implementation.

The 2nd Digiloong GAIC is expected to promote the accelerated commercial implementation of cutting-edge achievements such as AI games, AI applications, and AI agents — continuously inject momentum into the high-quality development of China's digital economy and AI industry, Fang noted.

Please contact the writer at hanjingyan@chinadaily.com.cn