Happy New Year! Greetings to you all!

Just as the winter cold air gives way to the spring warm sunshine, we say goodbye to the old year and embrace the new one.

As the new year is drawing near, I would, on behalf of World Internet of Things Convention and in my own name, send my best wishes to people from all over the world and extend my sincere thanks to those leaders from government agencies, international organizations and companies who show concern about and give support to WIOTC and its events. May you have a happy new year and healthy life!

Amid unstable geopolitics, worsening armed conflicts and multiple tariff wars, the previous year saw many uncertainties that had severe impact on the world society and economy. Yet, there were also some certainties as we promoted the innovative development of global digital economy supported by Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence. The output of major economies such as USA, China, EU, ASEAN, BRICS and LAS has registered over 35 trillion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of more than 8 percent. In China, where the number of 5G base stations supported by the internet of things is expected to exceed 4.9 million and the connections of things are projected to reach 3.5 billion, the scale of digital economy grew by 15 percent or so over the past year. Leading the world in developing the intelligently digital economy, it is home to hundreds of companies with strong capabilities to develop advanced digital economy, emerging as a power of innovation in the world.

As a non-profit, innovative and non-governmental international organization focusing on the internet of things digital economy and registering its entity information in the database of the United Nations ECOSOC, the World Internet of Things Convention, or WIOTC, organized and hosted 10 WIOTC annual conferences and over 300 forums and summits. In 2025, we successfully held the World Internet of Things Convention 2025 and First Conference on Sustainable Development of Intelligently Interconnected Digital Economy. This year’s event mainly focused on the topics of transition and upgrading of economy from being “fully connected through internet” to being “intelligently interconnected through the internet of things” and from current digital economy to advanced digital economy as well as discussions on exploration of economic and social development in the future. We released the Declaration of Global Intelligently Interconnected Advanced Digital Economy and Social Developmentand set an example by shaping a batch of demonstration cities and enterprises for the intelligently interconnected digital economy, pointing out a direction towards the transformation and upgrading of digital economy for governments and enterprises worldwide. Mr. Amandeep Singh Gill，Under-Secretary-General and Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies of United Nations, sent the video message to the annual conference. Representatives from 80 countries all over the world, including government officials, ambassadors and diplomats, heads of international organizations, representatives from World Top 500 enterprises, experts and scholars participated in this annual conference on the spot. Tens of millions of online viewers joined this event through different channels. The event also marks the opening of the new era of “intelligently interconnected digital economy and society” – a concept proposed by WIOTC.

The year 2026 is the first year to embrace the new period of intelligently interconnected digital economy and the 11th anniversary of WIOTC’s establishment. In 2016, in addition to the World Internet of Things Convention 2026 and 2026 Conference on Sustainable Development of Intelligently Interconnected Digital Economy and related series of events in China, Malaysia and France, we will also shape a new batch of global demonstration cities and enterprises and release the list of World IoT Ranking List Top 500. We champion the initiative to call for governments and enterprises from all over the world to establish wideband internet of things, explore ways to use wideband IoT to support and run the intelligently interconnected digital economy and society and encourage them to grab the highland of digital economy development. All these aim to provide reference for the transition and upgrading and innovative development of digital economy.

To conclude, let me take this opportunity to invite government agencies, international organizations, companies and scientific and technological institutions to participate in WIOTC events and cohost the World Internet of Things Convention 2026 and 2026 Conference on Sustainable Development of Intelligently Interconnected Digital Economy, regarding the events as a platform to offer rewarding suggestions and insights for promoting the upgrading of digital economy and society. Let us work together to push for the innovative development of the intelligently interconnected digital economy and explore the future of sustainable development for mankind to write a new chapter in 2026!

Let’s join hands to advance cooperation, support each other and make common progress in an effort to build a better planet and embrace a bright tomorrow!

Xuming HE
Chairman of WIOTC Executive Committee