The Wuhan Municipal Government Information Office announced in a recent news conference that the 3rd Software Innovation Development Conference will take place on June 13 in Wuhan East Lake High-tech Development Zone (Optics Valley of China, or OVC).

The conference will feature one main forum, six sub-forums, and an interactive software market. Key highlights will include the signing of an industrial software pilot testing and verification cooperation agreement among the capital cities of the six central provinces.

The event will also explore the multifaceted role, effectiveness, and prospects of artificial intelligence (AI) in reshaping the software industry ecosystem. For the first time, the conference will host the Yujia Mountain Forum on Industrial Software, showcasing the innovation and strength of industrial software rooted in Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

Wuhan's software industry has demonstrated robust growth in recent years, with a strong focus on developing an open-source innovation system and advancing key areas, including industrial and foundational software. The software industry in OVC accounts for over 65 percent of the city's total.

OVC is the only high-tech zone in China that has nurtured leading domestic operating systems and database companies. It is also actively developing a joint innovation platform for semiconductor industrial software and the HarmonyOS (Wuhan) Innovation Center.

The zone is accelerating its focus on emerging software fields, emphasizing "AI-driven" and "open-source driven" development. Support has been increased for areas such as AI large models and open-source ecosystem construction.

OVC has also increased its financial support, introducing several major project initiatives and special provisions tailored to industry development needs. Selected major projects within the industry cluster can receive up to 100 million yuan ($13.92 million) in support.