Building an AI-powered Ecosystem of the New Economy Industry 2017 Tianfu Software Park Annual Summit and 11th Sichuan Internet Conference Held in Chengdu

This event has invited insider gurus from home and abroad as well as local Internet practitioners to discuss together how AI impacts people and the society and its extensive application in the future. Lars Asplund, a Swedish leading scientist in robotics; Thenkurussi Kesavadas, founder of AI-based VR Medicine; Faisal Yazadi, CEO of CyberGlove Systems, a global leader in hand-centric 3D motion capturing; Dr. Ge Shuzhi, former Vice President of Technological Development of IEEE Control Systems Society (IEEE CSS), Academician of Singapore Academy of Engineering, Director of Robots Research Center of University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC); Dr. Yao Dezhong, Academician of American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), a scientist in electroencephalography-based brain-computer interface and dean of School of Life Science and Technology in UESTC; Dr. Dai Weimin, Chairman and President of VeriSilicon Holdings Co., Ltd. and other enterprise representatives shared their latest research achievements in this field.

As one of China's largest professional software parks, since its official operation in 2005, Tianfu Software Park has been home to over 600 domestic and international well-known enterprises including 34 Fortune Global 500 enterprises like IBM, SAP and EMC, which together employ over 60,000 people. He Lei, General Manager of Tianfu Software Park, said that, Tianfu Software Park hopes to establish an exchange platform for AI practitioners of Sichuan and even the world in an effort to connect global resources, so as to help innovation-driven enterprises to gain access to AI and new business opportunities.

Global Great Minds in AI Discussed the Development Prospect of AI

On October 19th, DeepMind of Google published a paper on Nature, marking the official launch of AlphaGo Zero, the latest version of AI Go Program. Having self-played the game for several million rounds, AlphaGo Zero made a remarkable progress. During 100 rounds, AlphaGo Zero, equipped with one computer and four TPUs (high-performance CPU), beat AlphaGo Lee, fitted with multiple computers and forty-eight TPU, and made a clean sweep. With the same configuration, AlphaGo Zero won an overwhelming victory over AlphaGo Master by 89:11.

Fast-evolving AI would make a sensation with nearly every breakthrough in it. At this summit, experts from home and abroad set sight on the cutting-edge research achievements in AI and had an in-depth analysis. Many experts argued that AI is just starting to take off and expected to be used in more fields in the future.

At the summit, Lars Asplund, a Swedish leading scientist in robots made an introduction to European AI development and cutting-edge technology. He insisted, AI enjoys a vast market prospect in China, especially in medical industry, auto industry and financial service industry.

Recently, a Spanish hospital assisted by a VR helmet succeeded in a surgical operation. During the operation, surgeons wore customized VR helmets. With the help of the helmet, they can check CI data, ultrasonic wave and other data needed in the operation at any time, and also halved the duration of operation.

Revolving about how to integrate virtual reality with medicine in AI times, Thenkurussi Kesavadas, founder of VR Medicine, said, VR can not only help doctors in diagnosis but also offer them a virtual environment for operation practices so as to avoid risks in practice effectively.

And Faisal Yazadi, CEO of CyberGlove Systems, a global leader in hand-centric 3D motion capturing, said, "With increasing penetration of the Internet of Things and big data, human-computer interaction will be omnipresent in the future."

Furthermore, Dr. Yao Li, founder and CEO of Borns Medical Robotics Inc.; Dr. Chen Ning, founder of IntelliFusion and expert of "National Thousand Talents Program"; Liu Zhong, co-founder and CEO of the LAB Venture; Tao Ye, senior technological consultant in big data and AI of Huawei Group and other domestic top-notch scholars shared their latest research achievements.

AI Reshapes Life in the Future: Autonomous Driving Gathers the Spotlight

At this point, AI and autonomous driving are surging ahead like never before and emerging as one of the trends defining the future of the auto industry. At the 2017 Tianfu Software Park Annual Summit and 11th Sichuan Internet Conference, a round-table forum themed "AI and Autonomous Driving" became quite visible among attendees.

Sun Pihong, Secretary General of the Chengdu New Energy Vehicle Industry Alliance, and CEO of Chengdu Skysoft Information Technology Co. Ltd., hosted the round-table discussion. He and other industrial experts made in-depth exchanges on application results and prospects of AI in the field of automatic drive. These experts included: Grisson Xie, CEO of Chengdu WestAlgo Science and Technology Co., Ltd.; Yang Jinsong, Director of Software Development of Chengdu R&D Center of Harman International Group Co., Ltd.; Zhong Zhiwei, Director of BAIC Capital Co., Ltd.; Yang Chengjin, Chairman of Shenzhen Goke Semiconductor Co., Ltd., and Luo Lei, Professor of University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.

Guests present at the round-table believed that, thanks to the advances made in the reliability of imaging system, algorithm maturity, and operational capability of chips, the auto industry can tap AI achievements made in laboratories and develop autonomous driving techniques that might put into commercial applications on a large scale.

According to Grisson Xie, WestAlgo Science and Technology Co., Ltd., as a leading domestic provider of AI and computer vision algorithms and solutions, is focusing on the development of Surround View Monitor System and Driving State Monitoring System. The trend of automatic driving environment perception technology is developing toward the fusion technology of multi-sensor such as visual sensors, millimeter-wave radar and laser radar. This technology provides more accurate and reliable environmental perception capability for automatic driving.

"Autonomous driving exists as the most important industry in AI application for the next two decades. If AI can be defined as a bandwagon, then autonomous driving is a top bandwagon among bandwagons. As the era of autonomous driving looms, what we need is not only technological innovation and progress, but also full-fledged laws and regulation. Given this, we still have a long, uphill battle to fight as we pursue autonomous driving," said Sun Pihong.

Unearthing the Most Promising Start-ups of 2017: A Host of Local Enterprises Come to the Fore

Tianfu Software Park, as a visible innovation hotspot in Chengdu and even beyond, spawns a slew of budding products each year, some of which have grown into leaders in their respective vertical subfields. To further invigorate innovation, this session of the summit will offer "2017 Tianfu Software Park Innovation of the Year" award. "Borns Surgical Robot" developed by Borns Medical Robotics Inc, distinguished itself from the crowd of competitors.

According to Dr. Yao Li, founder and CEO of Borns Medical Robotics Inc, Borns surgical robot features compactness, modular design, and intelligent control. It comes with an innovative surgical instrument platform and a 3D force feedback surgical operation system. The arrival of Borns surgical robot has geared high-end digital diagnostic equipment onto a road of localized production, and enabled a genuine "Made in China".

To bring about a booming innovation scene, the organizer has conferred the honorary title of "the Most Promising Start-ups in Tianfu Software Park 2017". The Park has selected 9 enterprises eligible for the title in terms of financing rounds, development potentials, prospects, and other dimensions. These prize winners included: Borns Medical Robotics Inc, Chengdu Xiaoduo Technology Co., Ltd., Chengdu Runfox Information Technology Co., Ltd., Chengdu Swartz Technology Co., Ltd., Chengdu Fanmi Technology Co., Inc., Chengdu Rotex Technology Co., Ltd., Chengdu Simpletour Network Technology Co., Ltd., Chengdu Moyun Technology Co., Ltd., and Chengdu WestAlgo Science and Technology Co., Ltd.

"The Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone and Tianfu Software Park provide enabling environment and services for making innovation and entrepreneurship. Enterprises have benefited from tax and policy subsidies. The professional service platforms offered by the Park have made us gain a lot in industrial exchanges, talent recruitment, and business expansion," said the representative of an awarded enterprise.

The new economy industry represents the most innovative industry in the Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone (CDHT), and is crucial to embracing future development opportunities, as put by the related official of the CDHT. Since the beginning of this year, the CDHT has introduced many projects to sustain regional industrial vitality, including Chengdu Research Institute of New H3C, Siemens Industrial Software Global R&D Center and Siemens Intelligent Manufacturing (Chengdu) Innovation Center, Medtronic Chengdu Innovation Center, Bishop Cancer Institute, Tencent International e-sports Center, Chengdu Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, and others. 

To shape ecosystem of the new economy industry, the CDHT has introduced the first development policy for the industry in Midwest China in July this year, namely Several Policies on Developing New Economy and Nurturing New Drivers of the Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone. The policy has made it clear that enterprises of the new economy industry will have access to support in their establishment, commercialization of international achievements, and in expanding market.

"Going forward, we will boost our capability in pooling elements globally and enable market to fully play its role in allocating resources. That's how the new economy will grow into a powerful engine and cornerstone for regional development." According to him, the CDHT will roll out policies in the future to enhance the competitiveness of enterprises, propel scientific and technological innovation, and to put talents top on the agenda. These well-targeted, integrated policies will unleash new vigor for the new economy, enable its faster growth, and give strength to its role as a primary industrial underpinner as Chengdu seeks to build a national central city in line with new development philosophy.

SOURCE Chengdu Tianfu Software Park