More than 100 companies from China and the US gathered this weekend in Silicon Valley to push for the industrial application of artificial intelligence.

The "2018 Connect Conference", with the theme of "intelligent system and technology meets industry", was held in Santa Clara, California, where the participants attended 15 keynote speeches and 10 panel discussions on topics such as AI chips, AI robotics and intelligent manufacturing as well as deep learning and natural-language processing.

"The conference is aimed to connect the resources from both countries and push for collaboration in the area of AI application with a focus on market and investment," said Roy Kong, executive director of the US-China Association of High-level Professionals, one of the organizers of the conference.

"From intelligent cars to voice recognition, we are no longer onlookers of the AI technologies. We should let more people see how AI changes our industries," Kong said.

The US-China Intelligent Robotics session invited executives from Chinese robotics companies and Silicon Valley-based AI companies to discuss collaboration opportunities in the areas of industrial robots and consumer robots, as well as Chinese market penetration of the US' leading AI companies such as Vicarious AI.

During the session, Harbin Institute of Technology, Zhejiang Buddha Robotics, CloudMinds, NovuMind and other participants presented their latest AI robotics development.

On the sidelines of the conference, the organizers also hosted networking sessions for Chinese high-tech industrial parks, including Suzhou Industrial Park, Nanjing Jiangbei New Area and Zhangjiang Incubator Management Co, Ltd, to seek collaboration opportunities and recruit talent from Silicon Valley.

During the conference, the Tsinghua Entrepreneur & Executive Club (TEEC), another organizer of the conference, also hosted the final competition of the TEEC Cup Startup Contest, which attracted 500 teams.

Twenty startup finalists were invited on a road show to pitch their ideas to potential investors. An investment session also was held to discuss investment trends in US venture capital and unicorn status.

China and the US are expected to collaborate on scientific and technological innovation as well as facilitate the flow of talent between the two countries, said Zhang Jianxin, deputy Chinese consul general in San Francisco.

The conference and its mechanism have encouraged more than 1,000 young entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley and other areas to find successful careers in China in the past eight years, according to the organizers.

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