FutureTech at WAIC 2026: How the "One Person + a Swarm of AI Agents" Model Is Changing Startups

At the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) 2026, which opened on July 17, 2026 in Shanghai, FutureTech head Zhang Mengzhao told 36Kr that the "one person + a swarm of AI agents" model is moving from concept to a real way of launching startups.

What the OPC competition showed

The entrepreneurship track of the OPC (Independent Pioneer Challenge) competition sent 21 projects to the final, selected from more than a thousand applications. Only a minority of the founders have a purely technical AI background. According to 36Kr, the finalists include former investors, people from the gaming industry, music producers and students, who use AI models and development tools to turn their industry experience into products.

• WAIC 2026 — opened on July 17, 2026 in Shanghai, with the theme "Smart Partners, Building the Future Together"
• FutureTech — a startup sub-brand that has been developed within WAIC since 2024
• OPC — a two-track competition: an innovation track and an entrepreneurship track
• 21 projects reached the final of the entrepreneurship track, selected from 1000+ applications
• More than 100 investors from top funds were invited to the venue

According to Zhang Mengzhao, FutureTech is not a one-off contest but a year-round ecosystem platform: the conference itself lasts four days, but the main value comes from ongoing work on startups' industry needs.

Why industry know-how is the main moat

Zhang Mengzhao calls industry know-how the most important competitive moat for a startup in the AI era. The technology barrier has fallen, so founders no longer compete on pure technical skill. They compete on a deep understanding of a narrow use case and on refining it continuously, and that is what lets them take on large corporations.

"Industry know-how may be the most important moat.

AI has lowered the technology barrier, and now people compete not on technology but on understanding a specific scenario," — Zhang Mengzhao, head of FutureTech, in an interview with 36Kr.

Zhang Mengzhao admits that he was not optimistic at first and worried that a large company could easily copy the work of a lone founder. But over the course of the competition he saw more and more real success stories of "super-individuals": founders working in tandem with a swarm of agents.

What the platform offers startups

The FutureTech platform gives startups three layers of value: validation of status through a rigorous selection process, access to an audience, and connections to industry. More than 100 investors from top funds were invited to the venue, and the WAIC Connect platform nearby links startups with industrial partners.

According to Zhang Mengzhao, the main goal for the coming year is not raising money but moving from isolated innovation to industrialization. Many strong startups already have enough investment, he stresses, but it is not capital that makes them sustainable. It is the ability to earn money from a real business.

What this means

The lower technology barrier is shifting the center of competition among AI startups from model performance to industry expertise and business results. The "human + agents" model is no longer just a slogan: a lone founder with industry experience and a set of AI tools can already build a product that used to require an entire team.

Frequently asked questions

What is the "one person + a swarm of agents" model?

It is the "super-individual" concept: a single founder with industry experience uses AI models and a swarm of agents to do work that used to require a large team. According to Zhang Mengzhao, the share of founders with a purely AI background is low among the 21 finalists of the OPC entrepreneurship track.

What is the OPC competition at WAIC?

OPC (Independent Pioneer Challenge) is FutureTech's two-track startup competition. The innovation track rewards any AI idea (prompts, skills, products built with vibe coding), while the entrepreneurship track requires a product with commercial value. In 2026, 21 projects from more than a thousand applications reached the final of the entrepreneurship track.