College AI startups compete for investment in Beijing
- By Guo Yiming
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail China.org.cn, March 30, 2018
Ten startup teams from eight of China's prestigious universities presented their technological innovations in artificial intelligence (AI) at a competition held in Beijing on Thursday.
![A startup team from University of Science and Technology demonstrates their sign language translator during an AI competition in Beijing on Mar. 29, 2018. [Photo by Guo Yiming/China.org.cn]](http://images.china.cn/site1007/2018-03/30/7cec1e1a-99fb-4947-8a79-73251ebb1d5c.jpg "A startup team from University of Science and Technology demonstrates their sign language translator during an AI competition in Beijing on Mar. 29, 2018. [Photo by Guo Yiming/China.org.cn]")
The ten programs, which were shortlisted through several rounds of contests sponsored by China's tech company Lenovo, created AI applications in various fields including industry, warehousing, translation, recruitment, and healthcare, which aimed to cut labor costs and improve efficiency.
A startup team from Xi'an Jiaotong University took the top prize in the finals with their brain-controlled exoskeleton robot that assists with walking to aid in lower limb rehabilitation.
The competition recognizes inventions that match a given market with their chosen technology, so each program is judged based on both technology commercialization and market strategies. The winners will have a good chance of receiving Lenovo's investment, said the organizer.
Artificial intelligence was included in Premier Li Keqiang's annual government work report of 2018, demonstrating Beijing's determination to support the growth of this next generation tech industry.
China has overtaken the U.S. in the funding of AI startups, according to a recent report released by CB Insights, which shows that the country accounted for 48 percent of the world's total AI startup funding in 2017, compared to 38 percent from the U.S.
Entrepreneurs of AI are the driving force of an intelligent future, said Yang Yuanqing, chairman and CEO of Lenovo Group Ltd. He added that Lenovo will continue to support AI startups and help them realize their dreams.
"Many of the world's most successful companies are founded in university campuses, like Facebook and Microsoft," noted He Zhiqiang, president of the Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group, the company's global tech venture capital investment fund. He said he hopes that more unicorn companies will be born out of higher institutions that gain support through competitions of this kind.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)