The "Shanghai Experience" in Artificial Intelligence Has Achieved Initial Results - 2022-09-20
In 2015, Kenny Chien left the foreign company he worked and returned to China to start his own business. His goal was to set up an artificial intelligence (AI) company and "popularize" AI technology. China is so big, but where would he choose for his startup: Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen or Guangzhou? Each of these cities has its own advantages. However, after rounds of consideration, Kenny Chien chose Shanghai.
In the year when Kenny Chien founded EMOTIBOT Technologies (Shanghai) Limited, AI entered a true era of deep learning. "I wanted to start from scratch and develop natural language processing technology for the Chinese language. At that time, no foreign enterprise took Chinese as the main direction of research, and English was their main focus," said Kenny Chien, "I like language very much. Language and culture are related to each other. What we are best at are Chinese and AI. So EMOTIBOT set itself to the task of integrating AI technology with linguistics. It then embarked on the most difficult path of natural language processing in the field."
With the continuous emergence of enterprises such as EMOTIBOT, Shanghai has seen the faster development of the AI field, forming a complete industrial system. The number of enterprises above designated size in the city increased from 183 when the First World Artificial Intelligence Conference was held in 2018 to 331 in 2021, with output value rising from RMB 134 billion to RMB 305.6 billion, registering a fold-fold increase. The "Shanghai experience" in AI has borne initial fruits.
Promoting development through applications
In the year when Kenny Chien founded EMOTIBOT Technologies (Shanghai) Limited, AI entered a true era of deep learning. "I wanted to start from scratch and develop natural language processing technology for the Chinese language. At that time, no foreign enterprise took Chinese as the main direction of research, and English was their main focus," said Kenny Chien, "I like language very much. Language and culture are related to each other. What we are best at are Chinese and AI. So EMOTIBOT set itself to the task of integrating AI technology with linguistics. It then embarked on the most difficult path of natural language processing in the field."
With the continuous emergence of enterprises such as EMOTIBOT, Shanghai has seen the faster development of the AI field, forming a complete industrial system. The number of enterprises above designated size in the city increased from 183 when the First World Artificial Intelligence Conference was held in 2018 to 331 in 2021, with output value rising from RMB 134 billion to RMB 305.6 billion, registering a fold-fold increase. The "Shanghai experience" in AI has borne initial fruits.
Promoting development through applications
At the opening ceremony of the 2022 World Artificial Intelligence Conference on September 1, Shanghai released 6 metaverse application scenarios, including the Digital Site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China, intelligent production lines and twin transportation. The release of application scenarios has become a routine practice of previous AI conferences. Since 2019, Shanghai has released a total of 30 major AI application scenarios in 3 batches focusing on comprehensively promoting urban digital transformation.
Developing AI by closely focusing on application scenarios is the experience that Shanghai has formed in its industrial development. This experience has captured a major pain point of AI - the difficulty of commercial implementation. Although many AI enterprises have made progress in technology development, they are at a loss for commercialization. No matter how good a technology is, if it cannot be transformed into a product and applied to real scenarios, it will become a "useless technology" and fail to deliver concrete results on the ground.
Robin Li, CEO of Baidu, remarked, "Lack of good business prospects will make the growth of startups stagnate, cause huge losses to them, and make it very difficult for them to raise funds and go public." After 10 years of AI development, the government, industry, researchers and various sectors with potential applications are all trying to find an answer to these questions.
Tang Yunyi, Deputy Director of the Institute of Applied Economics of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said, "Shanghai’s advantage in developing the AI industry lies in forcing innovation with applications as the impetus. In particular, Shanghai is now promoting urban digital transformation in an all-round way, covering economic digitalization, life digitalization and governance digitalization, all of which create a digital base for the in-depth application of AI."
According to The 14th Five-Year Plan of Shanghai Municipality for the Development of the Artificial Intelligence Industry released at the end of 2021, Shanghai will accelerate the comprehensive digital transformation of the city, and achieve overall transformation, all-round empowerment and revolutionary reshaping during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, and AI will play an important empowering and driving role in the process of digital transformation.
As a super large city, Shanghai has its unique super scenarios. In the future, it should promote more large-scale integrated applications, let AI empower all sectors and industries, go deep into tens of thousands of households, and generate new economic models, new life experiences and new governance modes in the intelligent era.
Setting the direction through policies
The key to the development of AI lies in enterprises, whose growth is closely related to the whole social ecosystem. For this reason, Shanghai has established a city-wide AI work promotion mechanism and built a diversified AI innovation ecosystem together.
In the development of its AI industry, Shanghai has long emphasized top-level design. In 2017, the city issued The Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Development of New-Generation Artificial Intelligence in Shanghai, elevating AI into a priority development strategy for Shanghai for the first time. This effectively opened the prelude to the development of Shanghai's AI industry.
In recent years, Shanghai has successively issued various policy documents, including The Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Development of New-Generation Artificial Intelligence in Shanghai, Implementation Measures on Accelerating The High-Quality Development of Artificial Intelligence, and Action Plan for Building Shanghai into a Highland of Artificial Intelligence and Establishing a First-Class Innovation Ecosystem in Shanghai Highland (2019-2021).
Last month, the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress deliberated on The Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Promoting the Development of the Artificial Intelligence Industry (Draft), which is the first provincial-level regulation in the AI field in China. The regulations start with the aspects of scientific and technological innovation, industrial development, application empowerment and industrial governance, and aim to address such issues as insufficient independent innovation capacity, difficult scenario implementation, and inadequate governance system building in industrial development.
"Shanghai has a fairly sound policy system for the development of the AI industry. The Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Promoting the Development of the Artificial Intelligence Industry (Draft) recently released for public comments provide the rules to follow for promoting the development of the entire AI industry," noted Tang Yunyi, “In the future, the government, enterprises and individuals will all operate in a rule-based system to generate higher social efficiency and benefits".
Besides formulating policies and regulations, Shanghai has also set up the Leading Group on the Artificial Intelligence Industry and the Strategic Advisory Expert Committee on Artificial Intelligence, and established the country's first AI innovation and application pilot zone and the national new-generation AI innovation and development pilot zone. To promote the gathering of resources, Shanghai has also set up the Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund, and promoted a number of leading enterprises to get listed on the SSE STAR Market.
Gathering talented minds through industry
In August 2021, Jiang Chao, a Ph.D holder who returned to the Pearl River Delta region from study abroad, was wondering how he should take the next step of his life .
Although he had helped his company to achieve industry leadership in the field of automatic driving, there was still a long way to implement their mature technology on the road. To do that, hardware platforms, vehicle manufacturers, the government and other parties must form a joint force, while the restrictions of many links must also be lifted.
A phone call from Shanghai showed him the direction. "My former colleague in Shanghai told me that SAIC Group and SIPG would jointly set up UTOPILOT Company to provide automatic driving solutions and freight services. I visited Shanghai once and made a decision on the spot. Next, I came to Shanghai in September," Jiang Chao said.
It obviously takes much courage for someone who has settled in Guangdong to separate from his family and go to Shanghai to start his business. However, Jiang Chao was deeply thrilled by what he saw during his visit and found that he must go to Shanghai.
From Lin-gang to East Sea Bridge, he saw Tesla, chip makers, high-end medical enterprises and various other AI enterprises gathering there, forming an agglomeration effect of high-end talents. With the support of Shanghai, SAIC put its smart heavy trucks into quasi-commercial operation on the Donghai Bridge, which made him more excited.
"Testing in the real environment is a dream scenario for all researchers. The accumulation of massive real data makes the technology not only look beautiful, and get truly implemented," said Jiang Chao.
Of course, the factors that made him determined to start business and settle down in Shanghai also include the preferential policies introduced by Shanghai to lure talented minds, including the grant of permanent residence to high-tech enterprises’ talents after two years of work, as well as preferential tax policies.
There are still many people like Jiang Chao who have chosen to come to Shanghai. Chen Wei graduated from Chongqing University, majoring in vehicle engineering. He was an outstanding doctoral graduate of the 2021 class. He said that Shanghai is at the forefront of industrial development and can enable young people to develop better. One year, 6 of the 10 graduates from Chen Wei’s major left for Shanghai.
Shanghai has vigorously gathered talented minds through industry, and a talent highland has begun to take shape in the city. Data from the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization show that the number of AI talents in the city increased from 100,000 in 2018 to 180,000 in 2021. By supporting the development of the AI industry, Shanghai has attracted enterprises to enter the city and gather talented minds from all over the world. On the other hand, it has encouraged universities to offer relevant majors and cultivate local talents. The talent pool thus formed in turn injects impetus into the further development of the industry, thus forming a benign cycle.
The authour is Tang Yunyi, Deputy Director of the Institute of Applied Economics of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
Developing AI by closely focusing on application scenarios is the experience that Shanghai has formed in its industrial development. This experience has captured a major pain point of AI - the difficulty of commercial implementation. Although many AI enterprises have made progress in technology development, they are at a loss for commercialization. No matter how good a technology is, if it cannot be transformed into a product and applied to real scenarios, it will become a "useless technology" and fail to deliver concrete results on the ground.
Robin Li, CEO of Baidu, remarked, "Lack of good business prospects will make the growth of startups stagnate, cause huge losses to them, and make it very difficult for them to raise funds and go public." After 10 years of AI development, the government, industry, researchers and various sectors with potential applications are all trying to find an answer to these questions.
Tang Yunyi, Deputy Director of the Institute of Applied Economics of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said, "Shanghai’s advantage in developing the AI industry lies in forcing innovation with applications as the impetus. In particular, Shanghai is now promoting urban digital transformation in an all-round way, covering economic digitalization, life digitalization and governance digitalization, all of which create a digital base for the in-depth application of AI."
According to The 14th Five-Year Plan of Shanghai Municipality for the Development of the Artificial Intelligence Industry released at the end of 2021, Shanghai will accelerate the comprehensive digital transformation of the city, and achieve overall transformation, all-round empowerment and revolutionary reshaping during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, and AI will play an important empowering and driving role in the process of digital transformation.
As a super large city, Shanghai has its unique super scenarios. In the future, it should promote more large-scale integrated applications, let AI empower all sectors and industries, go deep into tens of thousands of households, and generate new economic models, new life experiences and new governance modes in the intelligent era.
Setting the direction through policies
The key to the development of AI lies in enterprises, whose growth is closely related to the whole social ecosystem. For this reason, Shanghai has established a city-wide AI work promotion mechanism and built a diversified AI innovation ecosystem together.
In the development of its AI industry, Shanghai has long emphasized top-level design. In 2017, the city issued The Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Development of New-Generation Artificial Intelligence in Shanghai, elevating AI into a priority development strategy for Shanghai for the first time. This effectively opened the prelude to the development of Shanghai's AI industry.
In recent years, Shanghai has successively issued various policy documents, including The Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Development of New-Generation Artificial Intelligence in Shanghai, Implementation Measures on Accelerating The High-Quality Development of Artificial Intelligence, and Action Plan for Building Shanghai into a Highland of Artificial Intelligence and Establishing a First-Class Innovation Ecosystem in Shanghai Highland (2019-2021).
Last month, the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress deliberated on The Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Promoting the Development of the Artificial Intelligence Industry (Draft), which is the first provincial-level regulation in the AI field in China. The regulations start with the aspects of scientific and technological innovation, industrial development, application empowerment and industrial governance, and aim to address such issues as insufficient independent innovation capacity, difficult scenario implementation, and inadequate governance system building in industrial development.
"Shanghai has a fairly sound policy system for the development of the AI industry. The Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Promoting the Development of the Artificial Intelligence Industry (Draft) recently released for public comments provide the rules to follow for promoting the development of the entire AI industry," noted Tang Yunyi, “In the future, the government, enterprises and individuals will all operate in a rule-based system to generate higher social efficiency and benefits".
Besides formulating policies and regulations, Shanghai has also set up the Leading Group on the Artificial Intelligence Industry and the Strategic Advisory Expert Committee on Artificial Intelligence, and established the country's first AI innovation and application pilot zone and the national new-generation AI innovation and development pilot zone. To promote the gathering of resources, Shanghai has also set up the Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund, and promoted a number of leading enterprises to get listed on the SSE STAR Market.
Gathering talented minds through industry
In August 2021, Jiang Chao, a Ph.D holder who returned to the Pearl River Delta region from study abroad, was wondering how he should take the next step of his life .
Although he had helped his company to achieve industry leadership in the field of automatic driving, there was still a long way to implement their mature technology on the road. To do that, hardware platforms, vehicle manufacturers, the government and other parties must form a joint force, while the restrictions of many links must also be lifted.
A phone call from Shanghai showed him the direction. "My former colleague in Shanghai told me that SAIC Group and SIPG would jointly set up UTOPILOT Company to provide automatic driving solutions and freight services. I visited Shanghai once and made a decision on the spot. Next, I came to Shanghai in September," Jiang Chao said.
It obviously takes much courage for someone who has settled in Guangdong to separate from his family and go to Shanghai to start his business. However, Jiang Chao was deeply thrilled by what he saw during his visit and found that he must go to Shanghai.
From Lin-gang to East Sea Bridge, he saw Tesla, chip makers, high-end medical enterprises and various other AI enterprises gathering there, forming an agglomeration effect of high-end talents. With the support of Shanghai, SAIC put its smart heavy trucks into quasi-commercial operation on the Donghai Bridge, which made him more excited.
"Testing in the real environment is a dream scenario for all researchers. The accumulation of massive real data makes the technology not only look beautiful, and get truly implemented," said Jiang Chao.
Of course, the factors that made him determined to start business and settle down in Shanghai also include the preferential policies introduced by Shanghai to lure talented minds, including the grant of permanent residence to high-tech enterprises’ talents after two years of work, as well as preferential tax policies.
There are still many people like Jiang Chao who have chosen to come to Shanghai. Chen Wei graduated from Chongqing University, majoring in vehicle engineering. He was an outstanding doctoral graduate of the 2021 class. He said that Shanghai is at the forefront of industrial development and can enable young people to develop better. One year, 6 of the 10 graduates from Chen Wei’s major left for Shanghai.
Shanghai has vigorously gathered talented minds through industry, and a talent highland has begun to take shape in the city. Data from the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization show that the number of AI talents in the city increased from 100,000 in 2018 to 180,000 in 2021. By supporting the development of the AI industry, Shanghai has attracted enterprises to enter the city and gather talented minds from all over the world. On the other hand, it has encouraged universities to offer relevant majors and cultivate local talents. The talent pool thus formed in turn injects impetus into the further development of the industry, thus forming a benign cycle.
The authour is Tang Yunyi, Deputy Director of the Institute of Applied Economics of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
Source: Shanghai Observer
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