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Conversation with FutureTech Zhang Mengzhao: From “one person + a group of agents” to super individuals, AI is reshaping the entrepreneurial paradigm
2 min read
Source: 36氪
On July 17, the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference opened in Shanghai. As an important content window for 36 Krypton to go deep into the WAIC scene for the third consecutive year, the "Krypton Future" live broadcast room also opened live dialogue simultaneously on the first day of the conference. Zhang Mengzhao, head of FutureTech, accepted a special interview with 36 Krypton's "Krypton Talk about the Future" at the WAIC site. Focusing on topics such as FutureTech platform positioning, OPC Independent Pioneer Challenge, AI entrepreneurial trends, and commercialization paths for start-ups, he shared how FutureTech connects entrepreneurial teams, industrial resources and innovation ecology, and explores new entrepreneurial paradigms in the AI era. The theme of this year's WAIC is "Intelligent Partners, Creating the Future Together". As the artificial intelligence industry enters the application deepening stage, the industry's focus is gradually shifting from model capability competition to application value creation. Compared with the discussions around parameter scale, model performance and technological breakthroughs in the past few years, the AI industry in 2026 is paying more attention to a core issue: how AI can truly enter enterprise business processes, how to lower the application threshold, and how to create value through actual business results. Under this trend, the core of AI entrepreneurial competition is also shifting from a pure competition of technical capabilities to a test of industry awareness, scenario understanding, and business value creation capabilities. For start-ups, how to find real needs, create differentiated products, and move from innovative ideas to stable commercialization has become an important issue in the next stage of AI entrepreneurship. FutureTech is continuing to explore in this direction: by creating an innovation and entrepreneurship ecological platform that operates throughout the year, it provides start-ups with opportunities for display, communication and resource connection; at the same time, through the OPC Independent Pioneer Challenge, it discovers emerging teams with industry insights and innovation capabilities, and promotes more entrepreneurs to move from single-point innovation to industrial applications. In Zhang Mengzhao's view, AI is redefining the way of entrepreneurship, and the "one person + agent" super individual model is becoming a new possibility. Entrepreneurs with real long-term value need to rely on an in-depth understanding of specific industries and scenarios to continue to create business value. The following is a transcript of the conversation, edited by 36kr: 36kr: Fu