May 27, 2026, Hangzhou At the AI Application Forum of the 2026 China FMCG Conference (CFC), Ren Wenqing, CEO of New Distribution, delivered a keynote speech, highlighting the core challenge facing the FMCG industry: large models are powerful but don't understand FMCG; companies want to keep up with this major technological transformation but generally don't know where to start—so how should the FMCG industry navigate its AI path? After the speech, representatives from five parties jointly launched FMCG KBS. Tsinghua University's Institute for Digital Government and Governance, Turing Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, and Qingtu Data jointly initiated the KBS concept in July 2025; this time, New Distribution and Tower Alliance joined forces with the above three institutions to jointly launch KBS in the FMCG field, promoting the construction of an AI-era knowledge foundation for the FMCG industry.

Why Launch Now?

AI is one of the most important forces of this era—this is no longer debatable. Every industry is being redefined by it, and the FMCG industry is no exception. As the transformation surges forward, the FMCG industry faces two issues: First, large models don't understand vertical industries. Large models have general knowledge but don't understand FMCG—

They don't understand the different rhythms at which new products perform across categories;

They don't understand how discount channels and supermarket renovations are rewriting distribution logic;

They don't understand the different strategies for first-tier versus lower-tier markets under consumption stratification;

They don't understand why the same policy works in East China but distorts in Southwest China. Without an industry knowledge foundation, AI is just a smart tool that doesn't understand the business. Second, industry knowledge is scattered and not accumulated. Decades of FMCG experience are dispersed in practitioners' minds, in PPTs no one looks at anymore, and at conference venues. The same applies to the practical AI implementation cases companies are currently exploring—when people move, experience dissipates; when projects end, cases are archived. The industry doesn't lack experience or exploration; it lacks mechanisms for knowledge to be accumulated and circulated. The launch of FMCG KBS is precisely to solve these problems: to build an AI-era knowledge infrastructure for the FMCG industry, so that decades of industry experience and ongoing practical cases can truly be accumulated and circulated, becoming an asset that the entire industry can share and continuously amplify.

What is FMCG KBS?

KBS, short for Knowledge-Based Sharing, was jointly initiated by Tsinghua University's Institute for Digital Government and Governance, Turing Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, and Qingtu Data in July 2025. Its core proposition is: in the AI era, humans and AI collaborate to turn real experience and first-hand cases into shared, continuously growing knowledge, allowing every individual and every company to stand on the shoulders of industry accumulation and move forward. Among these, (P+AI)^KBS defines the human-machine co-creation paradigm of the AI era: humans and AI collaborate to generate knowledge, KBS enables this knowledge to flow at scale within the industry, which in turn amplifies the ceiling of each person's collaboration with AI. Many companies don't lack content, reports, or training; they lack the ability to make knowledge findable, understandable, and truly usable when needed. This is the issue of knowledge throughput—knowledge exists but doesn't flow. What FMCG KBS aims to do is not just store experience but make it truly flow and be used within the industry and enterprises. New Distribution has been deeply engaged in the FMCG industry for ten years, covering millions of practitioners, accumulating over 3,600 in-depth articles, hosting more than 30 industry conferences, and organizing hundreds of study tours and training sessions for FMCG companies each year. Over the past decade, New Distribution has been doing one thing: turning the experience of the FMCG industry and enterprises into knowledge that can flow. Based on the FMCG KBS concept, New Distribution will play a platform and hub role, uniting numerous industry partners to advance on two levels:

  • Industry level: Promote the co-construction and sharing of FMCG industry knowledge, jointly build a public knowledge foundation for the FMCG industry in the AI era, and enable industry experience to be more widely accumulated, circulated, and utilized.
  • Enterprise level: Help FMCG companies truly use KBS—introduce AI into actual business processes, help internal experience and cases be accumulated, and accelerate the real implementation of AI within enterprises.

Next Steps

With the launch of FMCG KBS, we will open knowledge co-construction channels to all roles in the FMCG industry, widely soliciting first-hand practical cases and AI implementation experience. On the basis of co-construction, we will gradually promote the establishment of knowledge standards for the FMCG industry in the AI era—including structured specifications for industry knowledge, knowledge contribution and invocation mechanisms—so that "knowledge assets" have a basis in the FMCG industry and the industry's overall AI capabilities continue to improve. Specific actions include:

  • FMCG KBS Knowledge Base: Organize and store New Distribution's decade-long accumulation of over 3,600 in-depth articles, materials from more than 30 industry conferences, as well as authorized PPTs from past CFC speakers and exclusive reports, so that what you're looking for can be found and used. Four years of industry white papers (2023–2026) have been compiled into a volume and will be the first batch of content to be opened.
  • First-hand Case Reports: Open a case co-construction channel to the entire industry, systematically collect AI practical cases from brand owners and distributors, process them in a structured manner, and incorporate them into the knowledge base to form shareable, reusable industry experience assets.
  • FMCG Insider: The core entry point of FMCG KBS. Daily insights replace fragmented information, think-tank content continues to accumulate, peer connections promote industry exchange, and through AI assistants, it achieves the leap from "reading content" to "using knowledge"—ask what you need, directly, and use it directly.
  • AI Training/Salons/Workshops: For brand owners and distributors, from building awareness to scenario implementation, provide services covering training, salons, and workshops, combining real cases to help companies truly integrate AI into business processes.
  • FMCG Agent: Build AI assistants tailored to different industry scenarios around core areas such as channels, categories, distributors, and terminals, allowing practitioners to ask questions directly and get answers with industry depth to support daily business decisions.

Participating Parties

Ren Wenqing, CEO of New Distribution; Shen Tonggang, General Manager of Turing Artificial Intelligence Research Institute; Sun Xue, Teaching Program Director of Tsinghua University's Data Governance Research Center; Guo Ling, General Manager of Qingtu Data; and Yuan Lai, Initiator of Tower Alliance, jointly launched FMCG KBS on site. Ren Wenqing, CEO of New Distribution, said: "The most valuable assets in FMCG are the experience forged in the market and the first-hand cases of AI implementation currently being explored. These things quietly dissipate at the enterprise level as people leave, and at the industry level, they are fought over individually and cannot be shared. What FMCG KBS aims to do is to keep enterprise knowledge and let industry experience flow." FMCG KBS is open to the industry, welcoming more brand owners, distributors, retailers, service providers, and industry research institutions to participate. Every piece of real industry experience and every practical case currently happening is nourishment for this knowledge system; every partner who joins is a co-driver of this endeavor. Let the decades of accumulation and current exploration in the FMCG industry truly flow in the AI era, driving industry progress and enterprise development.