China Herald: Tsinghua University

Showing posts with label Tsinghua University. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

How the state, market and academia move AI in the same direction – Kaiser Kuo

Technology veteran Kaiser Kuo explains how AI developments with DeepSeek, MiniMax, Moonshot AI, and iFlyTek emerged as winners in China’s technology scene. Especially, the coordination between the state, the market, and academia helps technology to move in the same direction, he adds at the World Economic Forum.

Kaiser Kuo:

One of the less visible but profoundly consequential enablers of China’s rapid advance in generative AI is the unusually tight coordination among its public sector institutions, academic research bodies and private firms. While this kind of alignment is sometimes viewed with suspicion outside of China, particularly when it is framed in terms of state-led industrial policy or state-backed enterprise, the practical effect has been to lower barriers between research and application, to accelerate funding decisions and to unify long-term technological goals across domains.

Consider how China’s most capable research universities — Tsinghua, Peking University, Shanghai Jiaotong, Zhejiang University — serve not only as training grounds for AI talent, but as intellectual incubators for commercial ventures. Many of the leading generative AI firms in China, including Zhipu AI and Baichuan, emerged directly from university research labs, often with seed funding from state-affiliated venture arms and built-in partnerships with municipal development zones or digital economy clusters.

State guidance funds, particularly those aligned with the “New Infrastructure” initiatives launched in the late 2010s, have prioritised compute infrastructure, AI chips and cloud services. These funds offer long-horizon capital to projects that would likely struggle to gain equivalent traction in private markets, particularly during periods of economic tightening or when returns on investment are uncertain. Yet at the same time, the market incentive remains intact. Leading Chinese AI startups face intense domestic competition from rivals like DeepSeek, MiniMax, Moonshot AI and iFlyTek, all of which operate in a fast-moving environment that rewards iterative gains and rapid deployment.

Much more at the World Economic Forum.

Kaiser Kuo is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

Are you looking for more strategy experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.

Thursday, December 04, 2014

Baidu´s smartbike is coming to you - Kaiser Kuo

+Kaiser Kuo

Baidu is about to release a new feature into the internet of things: a smartbike. Baidu director communication Kaiser Kuo explains the features in investors.com. First release will be in China, but "there's no reason necessarily we would leave it only in China."

Investors.com:

The Baidu Maps navigation system is built into a display on the handlebars to give bikers a visual readout of where to turn during a ride.

The bike's smarts also contain social networking features. "It will locate other people using our DuBike operating system so you can meet up with other people and share good routes with other people. You'll be able to see other people using DuBike on your map if you want to find other riders," said Baidu spokesman Kaiser Kuo.

The bike doesn't need charging, either. "You've got a power drum that converts your kinetic energy to charge the electric system," Kuo said. "The electrical system is powered when you pedal."

In case anyone else tries to abscond with the DuBike, there's an anti-theft system in the form of a built-in GPS so owners can locate their bike using their smartphones. Baidu's Institute for Deep Learning research group developed the smart bike prototype, along with China's Tsinghua University's Academy of Arts & Design.

The product is "more about the software ... rather than the actual hardware," said Kuo. "We're making the operating system open and available to all different bicycle manufacturers. The idea is that bicycle manufacturers can take this, get the specs on how to make the sensors talk to each other, how to make the operating system talk to your phone and put that all into a bicycle. The idea is that smart bikes become a part of your life."

Kuo said there's been "considerable interest" from bike manufacturers in the system. The company would only say the first prototypes are scheduled for release soon and has not given a price for the smart bikes. Baidu also declined to say how many will be initally be produced or name the company that manufacturing them.

The release of the prototype will happen only in China, said Kuo, who added: "there's no reason necessarily we would leave it only in China. We don't have maps for cities and countries outside of China yet, so that's a limiting factor - for now, at least."

Baidu´s prototype smartbike

More in investors.com

Kaiser Kuo is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

Are you interested in more innovation experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check our updated list here.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

China´s competition goes abroad - Joel Backaler

+Joel Backaler

Domestic competition has become one of the major challenges for foreign companies in China, tells author Joel Backaler at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center in Beijing. And those challenges now prepare to go global. A few summaries from his speech.

Joel Backaler:

A Changing China: Backaler explained that China’s reputation as the world’s factory is changing due to its growing domestic consumer market. Western companies in China now face competition from domestic firms in China. Backaler noted that 41 percent of China-based multinational executives he interviewed listed intensified local competition as a top concern in 2014. The increasingly competitive domestic market in China is why Chinese companies are now looking West. ...

Next Steps for Chinese Companies: Backaler recommended that Chinese firms delegate more autonomy to overseas branch offices in order to establish stronger relationships with overseas employees. In addition, Chinese companies should invest in public relations to improve the image of Chinese companies and Chinese products. Public relations will also enable more strategic marketing and branding in order to increase the name recognition and brand strength of such companies.

More at the Carnegie-Tsinghua report.

Joel Backaler is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

Are you interested in more speakers at the China Speakers Bureau, focusing on China´s outbound investment? Do go to this recently updated list.