Artificial intelligence in the spotlight

Sino-German center in Beijing demonstrates applications of the latest technology

China and Germany are speeding up cooperation in the artificial intelligence sector, with the first joint AI application demonstration center launched in Beijing.

The Vpark AI Application Demonstration Center was launched during the Sino-German Smart Data Forum on May 17 in the Vpark, a technology park mainly for innovative internet companies and startups, in Beijing.

The center will demonstrate the latest Chinese and German productions that are based on AI and big data technologies, such as big data analysis software and natural language processing software. It also will showcase how AI technology has been applied in such sectors as housing, driverless cars, financing and media.

Zhang Hanyan, the chairman of the Vpark who also is in charge of the demonstration center, says it has been established as an exchange center for AI technologies of both countries.

"We hope it will help China's industrial upgrading and push forward domestic AI and big data industries," she says.

Hans Uszkoreit, professor of computational linguistics at Saarland University in Germany, who also heads the language technology lab of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, says China and Germany should strengthen cooperation in the industrialization of AI technology and realize the large-scale application of the technology.

According to a repot by the Sinolink Securities, China's AI industry has been growing quickly since 2010, and the number of AI companies has also been growing greatly.

Last year, China's AI market size reached about 23.9 billion yuan ($3.5 billion; 3.1 billion euros; ￡2.7 billion) and is expected to reach about 38 billion yuan by the end of 2018.

More than 100 big data scientists, entrepreneurs and industry insiders participated in the Sino-German Smart Data Forum in Beijing to discuss the application and research of artificial intelligence technology.

During the forum, the Artificial Intelligence Technology Center, a Sino-German research institute on AI technology, was also launched in the Vpark. Uszkoreit, its chief scientist, says the institute will use the advanced AI and big data technologies and projects to help companies, such as JD.com, one of China's largest internet companies, to improve the application and innovation of their AI technologies.

Sheng Licheng, deputy director of the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area Administration Committee, says that in the future, the industrial, social and economic development sectors will seek the support of AI technology.

Additionally, in developing AI industries, the integrated circuit, sensor, internet and big data sectors will be very important, he says.

Since AI technology is well-developed in Germany, the exchanges and cooperation of technologies and products should be strengthened in the future, Sheng says.

"AI is the direction for future development and important for all countries' development," he adds.

chenyingqun@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 05/19/2017 page27)