通用世界模型北京市重点实验室正式开放2026年度课题申请

This article summarizes key takeaways and practical guidelines from the 2026 Open Project Call for External Researchers issued by the Beijing Key Laboratory of General World Models:

1. Core funding details: The laboratory plans to fund 10 projects this cycle, with a 50,000 RMB grant allocated to each approved project, over a 2-year implementation period. Five priority research areas are designated, covering cutting-edge AI fields including foundational theories and methods of world models, embodied intelligence and agents, content generation and interactive world construction, real-world industry applications, and model security and ethical governance.

2. Practical application guidelines: The call clearly specifies eligibility requirements, required application materials, submission deadlines and procedures. Eligible applicants can prepare materials, submit to the designated email address by September 20, 2026 to complete their application, and contact the designated liaison for inquiries.

This open research call covers multiple cutting-edge AI technology directions, offering valuable industry insights and potential opportunities for brands pursuing intelligent upgrading. Key takeaways are as follows:

1. Trends in cutting-edge AI R&D: China’s AI sector is currently prioritizing five core areas: world models, embodied intelligence, content generation, complex scenario deployment, and AI security and ethics. These technologies will gradually penetrate core brand operations including content creation, smart marketing, user interaction and product R&D. Brands should monitor these technology trends proactively to anticipate shifts in consumer demand.

2. Potential technology collaboration opportunities: The open research program encourages cross-institutional industry-university-research collaboration. Brands with intelligent transformation needs can access cutting-edge research outcomes through official research collaboration channels, build technical capabilities for product upgrading and marketing innovation, and explore new paths for brand growth.

This announcement of open research projects in cutting-edge AI offers notable opportunities and insights for retail and e-commerce sellers developing AI-related businesses, summarized as follows:

1. New opportunities for consumer and marketing growth: Interactive content generation and virtual world construction are highlighted as key R&D priorities in this call. These technologies can be directly applied to e-commerce product content creation, virtual scenario live streaming, personalized marketing and other core operations. Sellers can track the progress of these technology deployments early to lay groundwork for new marketing growth tracks that align with consumer demand for interactive, personalized content.

2. Opportunities and risk reminders: Sellers can connect with leading research teams for technical support through this open collaboration channel to explore new AI+retail business models. At the same time, sellers should pay close attention to security and compliance requirements for AI applications, and proactively mitigate operational risks related to AI ethics and user privacy.

This open project call from the Beijing Key Laboratory of General World Models offers valuable reference and collaboration opportunities for manufacturing factories advancing digital and intelligent transformation, summarized as follows:

1. Guidance on technology directions for intelligent transformation: This program prioritizes R&D on world models for industrial applications, embodied intelligence and agents, among other directions. These technologies can be applied to industrial production scenario simulation, intelligent manufacturing robot optimization, intelligent production task planning and many other links, pointing out cutting-edge R&D directions for factories upgrading their intelligence, and aligning with factories' core demands for cost reduction, efficiency improvement and smart production.

2. Accessible technology collaboration opportunities: The open program encourages cross-institutional collaborative R&D. Factories with transformation needs can connect with relevant research teams based on their actual on-site production requirements to jointly advance the deployment of AI technologies tailored to manufacturing scenarios. Leveraging academic research resources allows factories to accelerate their digital and intelligent transformation and capitalize on new opportunities brought by industrial upgrading.

This open project call reveals current industry development trends and core market demands in the AI sector, offering high reference value for AI service providers serving enterprise clients, summarized as follows:

1. Cutting-edge development trends in the AI industry: Core current AI R&D priorities fall into five areas: optimization of world model foundational architecture, embodied intelligence, interactive content generation, vertical industry deployment, and AI security and ethical governance. Service providers can align their R&D and business expansion strategies with these priorities to better meet the latest market demands.

2. Customer pain points and accessible research resources: The market has clear demands for more efficient, reliable, secure and deployable world models. Service providers can develop targeted solutions to address these pain points. In addition, providers can leverage the lab's open project collaboration mechanism to connect with cutting-edge academic resources, and improve their own technical capabilities and solution competitiveness.

This open project call offers valuable insights for platform operators developing AI R&D collaboration and research services, summarized as follows:

1. Core demands for collaboration platforms in the AI sector: Cutting-edge foundational AI research currently requires open, shared cross-institutional collaboration mechanisms to enable teams from different organizations to work together on common technical challenges. Platform operators can build dedicated collaboration matching and project management channels to meet this demand, attract more research teams and industrial resources to their platform, and expand their business scope.

2. Reference for platform operation and risk mitigation: This open call outlines full-process mechanisms covering eligibility, process management, outcome requirements and compliance management, which offers strong reference for platforms managing their own collaborative research projects. Meanwhile, when hosting AI-related projects, platforms need to prioritize AI security and ethical compliance requirements proactively to mitigate potential policy and compliance risks.

This article summarizes key takeaways from the 2026 Open Project Call issued by the Beijing Key Laboratory of General World Models for AI researchers, as follows:

1. New trends in priority AI research in China: This open call identifies five priority funding areas: foundational models and efficient world modeling, embodied intelligence and agents, content generation and interactive world construction, world models for industrial applications, and world model evaluation, security and ethics. This clearly outlines current research priorities in China's AI sector, and can serve as a reference for researchers adjusting their research directions or seeking collaboration opportunities.

2. Core application details: A total of 10 projects will be funded, with 50,000 RMB per project and a 2-year implementation period. Eligibility requirements: Applicants must hold a PhD degree or associate professor/higher senior title, work as a researcher at a university or research institution, and establish a pre-application collaboration with a tenured member of the lab. Applications from scholars aged 40 or younger are particularly encouraged. The application deadline is September 20, 2026, and eligible researchers can prepare application materials according to requirements for submission.