2026 Zhongguancun Forum Annual Conference | Policy Initiatives and Financial Empowerment, Beijing Promotes the Upgrading of the Entire "Artificial Intelligence + Audio-Visual" Industry Chain

(Source: Beijing Business Today)

On March 28, the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum Annual Conference—“Ultra-High-Definition Audio-Visual Technology Innovation Development Forum”—was held in Beijing, co-hosted by the Beijing Municipal Radio and Television Administration, the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission, the Management Committee of the Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park, the Beijing Municipal Economy and Information Technology Bureau, the Management Committee of the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Zone, and the People’s Government of Haidian District. At the meeting, six districts in Beijing and a total of 21 leading companies in the ultra-high-definition audio-visual field within their jurisdictions completed signing. The Beijing Municipal Radio and Television Administration officially released support policies for the Beijing animation industry. Through joint efforts between the government and enterprises, it will accelerate technology transfer and industry clustering, promote an all-industry-chain upgrade of “Artificial Intelligence + audio-visual,” and help Beijing build an audio-visual technology innovation hub with global influence.

Full-chain coordination: from technological breakthroughs to scenario implementation

866 call-for-submissions projects, 414 companies, 9 billion yuan in social investment… On March 28, at this forum, Haidian District, Tongzhou District, Chaoyang District, Shunyi District, the Economic-Technological Development Zone, and Fengtai District in Beijing, together with a total of 21 leading companies in the ultra-high-definition audio-visual field within their jurisdictions, completed centralized signing. This round of signing focuses on all the full industry-chain links, including ultra-high-definition content production, technology R&D, terminal applications, and scenario implementation. By precisely matching companies’ strengths in line with each district’s industrial positioning, a full-chain industrial layout of “technology R&D + content creation + scenario implementation” is formed, promoting end-to-end penetration of artificial intelligence technology in the ultra-high-definition audio-visual field, and achieving complementary strengths and win-win cooperation between the government and enterprises.

It is understood that the signing entities will rely on each district’s industrial strengths, and focus on areas such as 8K technology R&D and major scenario broadcasting applications, ultra-high-definition video encoding, and intelligent terminal solution development. It will further deepen the integrated application of AI large models, generative video tools, and ultra-high-definition audio-visual technologies, accelerate the clustering of industry resources, iterative upgrades of technology, and breakthroughs in business-format innovation, and drive ultra-high-definition technologies to move from the laboratory to practical scenario application, helping enable deep penetration of ultra-high-definition technologies in the domains of radio and television digitalization and internetization.

Relevant persons in charge from the districts that signed agreements said they will use this signing as an opportunity to continuously optimize the business environment, implement industrial support policies, provide companies with precise services across the full lifecycle, build high-quality platforms for technology exchange,成果转化, and scenario application, and promote the rapid landing and effectiveness of signed projects. Representatives of signing companies also said that they will take root in Beijing, work with deep focus, and fully leverage advantages in technology, talent, and resources, concentrating on innovative integration of AI and ultra-high-definition audio-visual, and rolling out more high-quality products and services.

This signing marks that the development of Beijing’s ultra-high-definition audio-visual industry has entered a new stage of government-enterprise coordination and clustered development. With the deepening of various collaborations, and with the combined strength of the government and enterprises, Beijing will further improve the full-industry-chain ecosystem for ultra-high-definition audio-visual, activate new momentum for industry development, cultivate and expand new quality productive forces in the radio, film, and television as well as online audio-visual fields, and bring a new ultra-clear world enabled by intelligence integration into every household.

Policy drive: 30 million yuan of “real money” in support

A new model has emerged for promoting the development of the “Artificial Intelligence + audio-visual” industry, with the government providing a platform, enterprises putting on a show, and the market operating.

At this forum, the Beijing Municipal Radio and Television Administration officially released the “Measures for Supporting Key Projects to Promote High-Quality Development of the Animation Industry in Beijing” (hereinafter referred to as the “Measures”). The introduction of this policy signals that Beijing’s animation industry has officially entered a new stage of precise, full-chain support.

The “Measures” closely focus on the key links in industrial development and deliver targeted efforts across five major directions. In terms of R&D and application, it will prioritize support for frontier technologies such as real-time animation production and industry large models, promoting domestic innovation in key technologies and driving deep integration of key technologies such as AIGC and virtual production into creation and production. In terms of ecosystem clustering, it will focus on building industrial clusters centered on “Animation +,” establishing technology sharing platforms, strengthening IP copyright services and connections between industry and finance; in terms of IP integration and transformation, it will open up two-way pathways from high-quality content extending into multi-scenario contexts and from diversified IP transforming into animation. In international communication, it will support overseas platform setup, copyright export, participation in events and festivals, and joint productions between China and other countries. In terms of cultivating high-quality entities, it will focus on building “specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative” companies and hit products. The policy comes with supporting funds of 30 million yuan; each year, it will publish an annual application guide in combination with the industry’s actual situation.

In recent years, Beijing has continued to play a leading role in China’s animation industry and has delivered an impressive set of results. In 2025, 40 TV animation programs were filed for record and 22 were distributed. The number filed accounted for 9.2% of the national total, and the number of recommended superior projects ranked first nationwide. In terms of content, “Cat Traveling in the East” won multiple awards at the Busan International Art Festival; “Pet Hotel” launched in more than 20 countries and regions including North America, the Middle East, and Singapore; the “A Journey to the West” series of figurines raised over 32 million yuan through crowdfunding, setting a new record for domestic anime crowdfunding. In addition, at the Beijing Animation Week held in September 2025, the first issuance of 24,000 “PASS cards” linked with 16 commercial districts, driving consumption of about 120 million yuan.

Financial empowerment: deep integration of “fresh capital” and industry innovation

In recent years, Beijing has taken the lead nationwide in implementing the Ultra-High-Definition Audio-Visual Pioneer Action Plan, building a full-chain ecosystem for technology R&D, scenario validation, and commercial transformation, providing clear guidance for financial institutions to co-build industrial ecosystems. To precisely align with the policy layouts of Beijing—such as “Artificial Intelligence + audio-visual,” “ultra-high-definition,” “ultra-live”—Bank of Beijing will use a foundation of 10 billion yuan in credit to accompany companies’ innovative growth, and will focus on building a “customer map for new quality productive forces in audio-visual at Bank of Beijing.”

It is understood that, relying on its in-house “Matchmaker Win” platform, Bank of Beijing builds a “identify—reach—serve” closed loop, and provides precise empowerment for five core customer groups, including ecological rule-based and infrastructure-type enterprises, platform and traffic-ecosystem-type enterprises, technology product and solution-type enterprises, content creation and IP production-type enterprises, and scenario operation and consumption integration-type enterprises. It will focus on three major tracks: ultra-high-definition, AI + audio-visual, and ultra-live, support high-quality content creation, accelerate the landing of commercialized scenario applications, and enable financial services to go deep into every layer of the radio, film, and television/audio-visual industry—“texture” by “texture.”

That day, Bank of Beijing officially released a special action plan titled “100 Billion New Vision,” and signed financial cooperation agreements with multiple leading enterprises in the fields of artificial intelligence and ultra-high-definition. Together, they will inject strong financial momentum into the high-quality development of the capital’s audio-visual industry.

Bank of Beijing’s Qianmen Culture and Creative Sub-branch and Beijing Lanjing Technology Co., Ltd., Bank of Beijing’s Xueyuan Road Sub-branch and Beijing Zhipu Huazhang Technology Co., Ltd., and Bank of Beijing’s Beijing Economic-Technological Development Zone Sub-branch and Beijing Xingtuo Shilian Cultural Media Technology Co., Ltd. respectively signed financial cooperation agreements. The two sides will focus on areas including R&D breakthroughs in ultra-high-definition video processing technology, innovative applications of AIGC technology in audio-visual content production, and accelerating the implementation of projects such as construction of virtual production bases and ultra-live initiatives, jointly exploring new pathways for the integration of finance and technology.

Beijing Business Today reporter Kong Wenxie